The Other Amy
by AmyDonovan525
Summary: Thanks to Zoroark, Queen X and her X Parasite army has escaped from Planet SR-388, and only those with Metroid DNA can stop them. I team up with my new friends Amy, Chikorita, Grovyle, and Samus Aran to save the galaxy...and give them all a happy ending.
1. The Return of Team Pecha!

The Other Amy

A crossover between Pokémon Mystery Dungeon and Metroid by Amy Donovan...with a few other cultural references.

—Act 1: Two Amy's—

**Author's note: You don't have to have read my previous story, Amy, Chikorita, and the Echoes of Time, to fully enjoy this one. However, you'll have a better understanding of those titular characters if you do!**

Chapter 1: The Return of Team Pecha!

Narrator: Two years ago on a planet far, far away…

_The story begins with a view of outer space, and the Pokémon planet below. The following opening crawl scrolls upward across the screen, a la Star Wars, complete with the opening music from Spaceballs._

Amy, the human from the future, and her friend Grovyle traveled back in time to save the planet from total paralysis. On that fateful day, she lost her memories, turned into a Jigglypuff, and met her new best friend Chikorita. Together, they made up the exploration team named Team Pecha. Within a month, they discovered the truth of the dark future, collected all five Time Gears, placed them in Temporal Tower, and completed the mission that even Grovyle sacrificed himself for.

Then, a year later, the two of them saved the planet again, that time from a nightmare that threatened to drag every single Pokémon into it and never ever wake up. They found that the sinister Darkrai plotted those two conspiracies and defeated him. Now, having lost his memories, he will never be a threat again.

Today, Amy and Chikorita live in their own unique Pecha Berry house. Unlike Chikorita, however, Amy has started to get sick of the everyday life of an exploration team, and prefers to pursue what she likes most, which seems to involve such things as painting pictures, singing, and dancing. What Team Pecha doesn't know is that, though they saved the world twice, those trials are nothing compared to what they will face soon…

Oh yeah, and if you can read this, you definitely don't need to copy and paste this whole chapter into Microsoft Word and enlarge the font.

_It SEEMS like a normal morning in Treasure Town. Pokémon go about their business, discuss the pros and cons of evolution, prepare for massive explorations to Zero Isle…you know, the usual. But then, voices emit from out of nowhere, freezing everyone in place. For those of you with Sky Jukeboxes, you'd also recognize the "Here Comes Team Charm!" theme that starts to play at this point._

Medicham: Strength!

Gardevoir: Knowledge!

Lopunny: Beauty!

_Everyone pauses, looks at each other, and surrounds the place where the voices are coming from, which is Town Square. They'd recognize that motto instantly…_

All three: We are the treasure hunters! We are Team Charm! Between the three of us…There's nothing we can't do!

_The three of them burst out from underground in the most stylish way ever, showering sparkly stuff all over the stunned crowd. Then the crowd swarms them, totally excited._

The gist of what they're saying: Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, it's THEM! The super-famous legendary Team Charm! They're MASTER RANK! They've NEVER failed a mission! EVER! Can I have your autograph? Please? Pretty please? And while you're at it, how about I join you on—OW! Hey, no cutting! By the way, Miss Lopunny, why ARE you here today?

_Gardevoir uses her telekinetic energy to move everyone back so her team can talk for once._

Lopunny: Tee-hee! You're all sooooo adorable! Before that autograph, though, we just need a favor. One eensy-eensy tiny little favor. So tiny, even a Magikarp can do it!

Gardevoir: We have heard there is another all-female team that lives around here. This team also has the Master Rank. And if I heard correctly, there are only two members, and they have saved the world not once, but twice!

Medicham: Now give it to us straight, people!

_Medicham takes a deep breath and pauses for dramatic effect. Lopunny and Gardevoir wisely step out of her way as she angrily screams as loud as she can:_

Medicham: WHERE'S THIS SO-CALLED TEAM PECHA?

_The Official Recycling Shop, managed by Wobbuffet and Wynaut, is a hole in the ground beside the road leading to the guild. Master Wigglytuff is at the lottery, trading in his Prism Tickets. Team Charm happens to stroll in at this time, catching sight of the guy._

Lopunny (smiling): Wigglytuff! Long time no see, dearie!

Wigglytuff: Oh hi, friends and Lopunny! Is there someone you wanted to see? Like me?

Medicham: Team Pecha, that's who! Those guys out there said they're in here somewhere! Do ya know 'em, Wigglytuff? Do ya? Do ya? Huh huh huh?

Wigglytuff: Of course I do, silly! I'm their master, see?

_All three of their jaws drop. How can he, this weird dude who happened to become a guildmaster, be the master of the most up-and-coming exploration teams in the world?_

Wigglytuff: …Don't you believe me?

_Wynaut and Wobuffet inturrupt as they process the Prism Ticket. Did Master Wigglytuff win...?_

Wynaut: *gasp*! Don't tell me…is it a big win? Is it not?

Wobuffet: …That's right!

Wigglytuff: Really? Yippee! Oh yeah, you guys might want to look outtie.

Lopunny, Medicham, and Gardevoir: …?

_A hole bursts through the wall, totally blasting Team Charm across the room, slamming them straight into the doorway._

Lopunny, Medicham, and Gardevoir: Ooowww…

Medicham: (Wh…what the heck...?)

Gardevoir: (This…is legal?)

Wigglytuff: Lookie, lookie! Here's Amy!

Lopunny: Who…?

_A Ludicolo, two Bellossom, a Jigglypuff, and a Chikorita file through the hole and take their positions. The Jigglypuff and Chikorita are in the front. The Ludicolo mimics the Kool-aid Man and so will therefore be known as the Ludicoolaid Man._

Ludicoolaid Man: Oh, yeeeeeaah!

Lopunny, Medicham, and Gardevoir (too stunned, flattened against the door): …...

_They dance the most awesome dance ever, lasting for a whole minute. The whole time, Master Wigglytuff claps his hands and laughs in delight while Team Charm is still sprawled on the ground, watching the performance with stunned expressions. The Ludicoolaid Man is good, but by the end, the Jigglypuff and the Chikorita are the clear masters of the performance. Finally, the music stops, the Ludicoolaid Man snaps his fingers, and in a flash of light, he and the Bellossoms disappear while the Jigglypuff and Chikorita remains. The wall is suddenly patched back to normal. Confetti pops over Master Wigglytuff's head._

Wynaut: I must congratulate you. And why not? Here's your prize!

Amy: (Wait a second...! She got our prizes mixed up AGAIN?)

_Just as Wynaut hands Master Wigglytuff an IQ Booster, the Jigglypuff snatches it away and replaces it with…_

Wigglytuff: A Perfect Apple! Whee! Thank you, Amy!

_Master Wigglytuff starts bouncing the Perfect Apple on his head while the Jigglypuff and Chikorita are animatedly chatting with him. As the Jigglypuff gulps down the IQ Booster energy drink, Chikorita explains how Wynaut and Wobuffet gave the Perfect Apple to the Jigglypuff instead of Master Wigglytuff._

Lopunny (still stunned): Wh—what the…?

Gardevoir: You really have not changed, Wigglytuff…

Wigglytuff: Oh, right! Amy and Chikorita, this is Team Charm, see? Meet Medicham, Gardevoir, and Lopunny.

_Finally, Team Charm manages to get up as Wigglytuff, the Jigglypuff, and the Chikorita walk up to meet them._

Wigglytuff: You three, these are my best rookie apprentices ever, Chikorita, and Amy.

Amy: Nice to meet you! We're Team Pecha!

Chikorita: We're, uh, sorry about crashing into you like that…

Lopunny (squealing in delight): *gasp!* KIDDIES!

_Suddenly, Medicham flares up into a jealous rage, interrupting Lopunny. She snatches their exploration team badge and finds that it really is Master Rank._

Medicham: I knew it! I KNEW IT! You're Master Rank too! What do you think you're doing, stealing OUR spotlight, you little brats? First the Time Gear, and now this? C'mon! Bring it on! HI-YAH—!

Gardevoir: MEDICHAM!

_Just as Medicham is about to use Hi Jump Kick on Amy and Chikorita, Gardevoir blasts Psychic on her, stopping her in her tracks. She starts up a pep talk while consoling the little girls at the same time._

Gardevoir: This world needs MORE all-female teams, not less. Thanks to your belligerence, you are scaring away too many girls from forming their own exploration teams.

Medicham: Wha—really—?

Gardevoir: Are we not Team Charm, the vanguard of innovation in the exploration team business?

Medicham: Well, yeah, but…

Gardevoir: Believe me, Medicham, these children are the future of all-female teams everywhere! They saved the world not once, but twice!

Medicham: But—but—they took our Time Gear—

Amy and Chikorita: (No we didn't!)

Gardevoir: **You** may see it as a threat to our success, but **I** see it as a necessary sacrifice for the good of all. They have their roles to fulfill…and we have ours. Now what do you say? Go on…apologize.

_Medicham takes several deep breaths first to calm herself down. The little girls are still shaking from fear. Note that all this time Master Wigglytuff has been preoccupied with bouncing the Perfect Apple on his head, and it looks like he's not gonna stop anytime soon._

Medicham: Fine…Sorry, kids.

Chikorita: That's okay…I guess…

Amy: Thanks, Miss Gardevoir! You're really nice.

_Lopunny barges in front of Medicham and Gardevoir._

Lopunny: Okay, now that the light comedy is over, let's get down to business, kiddies!

Gardevoir and Medicham (appalled): (Our personal drama…reduced to light comedy?)

Lopunny: Do you two know of Quartzite Cave?

_Amy and Chikorita start jumping up and down in excitement._

Amy: Yeah yeah yeah! I love that place! There's shiny pink quartzite crystal thingies, and pretty stages where you can sing songs on, and—

Chikorita: I love it too! What about it? What about it?

_Lopunny sits down to better match Amy and Chikorita's eye level. She also does so to emphasize the information she's about to give._

Lopunny: Just this morning, we've received intelligence that a weird meteor of some sort had landed in the deepest part of the cave. And what's more…a life form no one has ever seen before came from it.

_Now Amy and Chikorita's attentions are really captured. They lean in closer, hoping to hear more._

Chikorita: A life form no one has ever seen before…

Amy (getting excited): Is it an alien?

Lopunny: Undoubtedly so, kiddies. Unfortunately, he knows attacks so powerful; no one's ever been able to beat him. Everyone's worried that he's going to destroy the world if he isn't stopped; as of now, even the legendary Team Raider is on their way to try and defeat him in battle. *sigh*…Brute force. Typical.

Gardevoir: But we would like to try an alternative strategy. This is what we propose. We would like you, Team Pecha, to provide backup just in case our plan fails.

Chikorita: Which is…?

Medicham: To seduce that thing…

_They all stand up and pose the classic Team Charm pose._

Lopunny, Gardevoir, and Medicham: …with our **feminine wiles!** (And you could help too, right?)

_Every guy in the place is stunned by the pose and faints. Even Master Wigglytuff stops bouncing his Perfect Apple for a second. Heck, even some of the girls (like Wynaut and Wobuffet) are stunned…with jealousy. The only ones who can't comprehend what Team Charm is doing at all are…well, guess._

Amy and Chikorita: "Feminine what-whats?"

_Cut to the next scene! Amy and Chikorita have already packed their Treasure Bag to the brim with all the food they think they're going to need. They're skipping out of Treasure Town into the wilderness on the way to Quartzite Cave with Team Charm, sticking close to the nice Gardevoir._

Lopunny: Let me explain it to you. Of all the Pokémon you've faced in battle…how many can you remember that were male?

Amy: Male? Okay, let's see…there was Grovyle and Dusknoir…

Chikorita: All those Sableye…Kabutops and the Omastar brothers…Dialga—

Gardevoir: No, no, child. Dialga is genderless.

Amy: Whaaaa…? Isn't he a guy?

Gardevoir: No. He only seems male in order to fit into our language.

Medicham: Fun fact; almost ALL legendary Pokémon are genderless...'cause they're one-of-a-kind, of course! Now keep it coming!

Chikorita: Luxray, all those Luxio, the meanie-butts…

Amy: Oh yeah! The meanie-butts…

Chikorita: That Spiritomb…Drowzee…uh…

Amy: Uh…

Lopunny: Fair enough. And how many female?

Amy: Uuuuhhhhh…

_A really long, uncomfortable pause._

Amy: …uhhhh…Mesprit and Celebi?

Medicham: NO! What did I tell you about—?

Gardevoir: Easy, Medicham, easy.

Lopunny: You see? The vast majority of them were male. Furthermore, in the midst of all that battling…did you sometimes notice…something weird, little Amy?

Amy: Actually…yeah! Several times, they'd be beating me up so much, and then just suddenly stop! Of course, Chikorita and me would beat them instantly, but…yeah…what about it?

Lopunny: Now you understand! That is the Cute Charm ability—

Amy: Yeah! I know that…

Lopunny: …and it's responsible for two things. One, it draws opposite gender Pokémon to you for miles around. Two, if they land a close-range attack on you, it causes them to fall…

All three (grinning): …in LOVE!

_Amy and Chikorita just stand there, taking that revelation in. Then suddenly…_

Amy and Chikorita: …EEEEEEWWWWW! Ew, ew, ew, ew—

_As they collapse on the ground and thrash in disgust, Lopunny giggles, Medicham slaps her face in exasperation, and Gardevoir reminisces about the time she was just like that._

Medicham: Oh. My. Gosh. For real?

Gardevoir: They are just children, Medicham. You did not think children would be able to—

Medicham: Whaddya talking about? I had my first real boyfriend when I was, like, four—

Lopunny: Let 'em recover, ladies. Please.

_Finally, they do._

Lopunny: Of course, Amy, you aren't the only one. Any Jigglypuff can do it, your Master Wigglytuff can do it…and do you know why I know so much about it? I can do it too!

Amy (wailing): …How do I turn it OFF?

Lopunny: You can't turn abilities off, sweetie. It's just a natural part of you! You'll get used to it…someday!

Chikorita (feeling terrible): I'm sorry, Amy…I didn't know—

Amy (grumbling under her breath): Now I really wish I could turn back into a human or something—

Lopunny (ears twitching): What was that, sweetie?

Amy: Uh, nothing…!

Lopunny: Well, on that note…

_Lopunny picks them both up and charges forward, with Gardevoir and Medicham bouncing close behind._

Lopunny: We've got an ALIEN to seduce!

Amy: It's slay! SLAY! Get it right, okay?

Chikorita (feeling uncomfortable): Um, Miss Lopunny, how exactly do you know that this alien is a guy…?

Lopunny: Hee-hee-hee! **Everyone **knows that all aliens are male.

Chikorita: I mean, even if it's true, how do you know that your Cute Charm's even gonna work?

Lopunny: It **always** works, sweetie.

Amy (kicking and screaming): NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NOOOOOO~!

Medicham (grumbling): Frickin' whiny naïve little snotragged brats…

Gardevoir (threateningly): Medichaaaaaam…

_Note that the only reason that Amy and Chikorita don't just kick Team Charm's butts right then and there is because they're eager to see the alien too. They just don't buy into the whole "seduce that thing". Finally, after miles and miles, they arrive at Quartzite Cave's entrance. They can see something from just over the entrance into the valley inside._

Amy: Hey, look! There's smoke coming from over there!

Chikorita: Is that…a battle…?

Lopunny: That's where the alien is. Let's go.

_They proceed through all 50 (!) floors of the cave, helping each other attack the wild Pokémon along the way. Several times Amy and Chikorita try to sing and dance on the pink crystal-like formations exactly reminiscent of the one from the Nintendo 64 game Pokémon Snap, but Team Charm drags them along. The farther they go, the faster Amy and Chikorita proceed._

Amy: (An alien…We're gonna see a real live alien! What will he look like? Will he know anything about distortions in the fabric of space? Will we get to go on a space adventure at last?)

Chikorita: (No one ever defeated him? He must be huge! He must be really really scary!) *gulp*! (But…Amy and I have faced much stronger Pokémon, and defeated them, too! I HAVE to work my courage up for this one! I just HAVE to! We've saved the world once. We've saved the world twice. If we have to save it three times…then it's fine by me!)

_Finally, they make it. They emerge from the cave into a valley. A stray laser happens to shatter the rocks right next to them._

Amy: WAAGH!

_What an intense battle! In front of them are the three members of Team Raider, Rhyperior, Gallade, and Roserade, fighting a 6'3'' tall orange bipedal…that must be the alien! They all stop and stare since Team Raider seems to have the situation under control._

Chikorita: What type do you think he is?

Amy: He's orange, so…is he a Fighting type? Is he? (Please please PLEASE say he isn't!)

Lopunny: Hmm…I don't think so. See that shine on his skin? He has to be a Steel-type.

Gardevoir: Maybe he is both Steel and Fighting type.

Medicham: Like a Lucario? Heh heh…nothing we can't handle!

_As they discuss this, the alien shoots a lot of what looks like Aura Sphere beams at Team Raider from that cannon on its arm. Yep, definitely an alien._

Amy (relieved): Well, at least Cute Charm won't work with all those long-range moves!

Lopunny: Why are you saying that like it's a good thing…?

Medicham: Look, look!

_Team Raider finally gets close enough to use their close-range moves. As Rhyperior moves in to smash it with his Hammer Arm, the alien does something unexpected. It turns into an orange ball!_

Amy: WHAT THE—?

_The ball expertly dodges all three of their attacks, frustrating Rhyperior as his arm gets stuck in the ground. It bounces right in the center of the three, drops a round, metallic object, and…_

SFX: KA-BLOOIE!

Amy and Chikorita (totally freaking out): AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!

Lopunny: He…he just used…Explosion?

Medicham (relieved and confident): Well, then, we don't have anything to worry about! His health must be down to near zero by now.

_All three members of Team Raider fly off into the stratosphere like Team Rocket. And to our heroes' amazement, the alien bounces out of the explosion unharmed._

Everyone (totally stunned): … … …

Chikorita: He's okay? How?

Amy: I think he used a Berry that could explode, and…and…maybe he's wearing Explosion-proof armor!

Chikorita: **What?** No way! **Now** what are we gonna do?

_Actually, it was a Power Bomb, but close enough. The alien transforms back into its original form, appears to sigh in relief, and crouches down to attend to the giant pile of purple machine parts in the rubble behind it._

Amy: What's he doing now?

Lopunny: Chances are, that's some doomsday device that's going to blow up the planet. Time for our plan.

Medicham: Like we said, other teams always use brute force. Let's see what happens if we try something...different.

Gardevoir: Amy and Chikorita, stay here and do NOT make any noise, okay? Watch…and learn. And finally, when we stun him…that will be when we want you to help us attack him.

_Team Charm goes into ultra-stealth mode. They sneak closer and closer to the alien as quietly as they can, hiding behind boulders every so often. Amy and Chikorita watch in nervous anticipation._

Chikorita: (Please be okay, guys…please be okay…)

Amy: (A doomsday device? **Huh**…Why do I get the feeling it's not that at all?)

_Finally, there's just 100 feet of wide-open plains. Team Charm really starts running. The alien stops and perks up, almost as if it had eyes on the back of its head. (Actually, it's detecting their presence with the radar in the upper left-hand corner of its visor.)_

Lopunny (whispering): Okay, ladies, on my count! Three, two, one…

All three: ATTRACT!

_The alien whips its head around as three gigantic translucent heart thingies slam right into it. Team Charm does their official pose with sparkly thingies as they wait for their attacks to take effect. Though the alien has a visor, they can sort of see its eyes. It blinks a few times for a few seconds…and then glares and points its Arm Cannon right at them._

All three: …Uh-oh.

_The alien shoots, like, 30—okay, only three—Super Missiles right at them. The resulting explosions send Team Charm flying into the stratosphere right after Team Raider._

?: O-**kay**…That was really disturbing.

_Team Pecha's jaw's drop even further._

Amy and Chikorita: **You can TALK?**

_The alien hears them and shoots an insane number of beam attacks at them, forcing them to run for it. They run towards the alien instead of away from it, desperately trying to communicate with it._

Amy: Wait, wait, wait! We come in peace! We come in peace!

Chikorita: We just want to know why you're here! Can't you tell us?

?: Huh? This is new…

Amy: What's new?

?: …How many of these things ARE there on this planet, anyway?

_It shoots even more of those energy beams. They're forced to run to a hiding place._

Amy and Chikorita: AAAAAAAAAGGH!

Amy: These aren't Aura Spheres at all! What the heck are these?

Chikorita: HOW AM I—SUPPOSED TO KNOW?

_Finally, it stops._

?: Weird...I swear they were trying to tell me something…*sigh*…C'mon, Adam, just a few more hours…if only they'd stop attacking us every few seconds…

Amy: I don't get it…it doesn't look like it understands us at all!

Chikorita: But how come we can understand it?

Amy: I dunno…This is really weird…I mean, Team Charm's gigantic heart thingies didn't even affect it at all, either…

Chikorita: Maybe it has the Oblivious ability or something…

_They formulate a plan for a bit._

Amy: …We're just going to have to stop it from moving somehow…

Chikorita: Gotcha there. What are you gonna do, sing it to sleep?

Amy: NO! Not unless I absolutely have to! I'm still not that good at—!

Chikorita: Hey, not so loud—!

_A beam attack blasts the rock they were hiding behind. Right then, they put their plan into effect. Chikorita ties its Arm Cannon down with Vine Whip while Amy says…_

Amy: CAN—YOU—UNDERSTAND_—_US?

_Without warning, the alien manages to yank Chikorita off the ground and throw her against a boulder. It then kicks Amy into another nearby boulder, hard. To its surprise, Amy bounces off the boulder like a pinball and propels herself to smack into the alien's helmet with a well-timed Rollout. The alien is dazed, but only momentarily, and when Amy comes back to hit it again, it simply raises its Arm Cannon to stop Amy in her place like a brick wall._

SFX: DONG!

_Amy falls to the ground, groaning in pain._

Amy: Oooww…

?: Wait…Did you just say "Ow"?

Amy: Yeah. That hurt—Hey! You can understand me now?

?: Apparently so. I'm surprised that you're the only one here who can talk.

Chikorita (finally recovered): What are you talking about? Everyone here can—

?: Oh! Ooooh…I see what happened. Oops…

Amy and Chikorita: What?

?: …My translator was off.

_Amy and Chikorita slap their faces and groan._

Amy: Hey wait a second! Your voice…you're NOT a guy! Right?

?: Right! Wait—what—THAT was a courtship ritual? *pppft*…

Chikorita: Oh, so it's called a "courtship ritual"? Not a "seduce that thing"?

Amy (getting angrier by the second): No wonder it didn't work! Lopunny…THAT WAS A GIRL, YOU LIAR!

_Her Hyper Voice reaches into the stratosphere, blasting Chikorita's (and maybe the alien's) eardrums in the process. Finally, they recover enough to introduce themselves._

Chikorita: Anyway, I'm Chikorita!

Amy: My name's Amy.

?: (Isn't that a human name…?)

Chikorita: And we're Team Pecha!

Amy: Nice to meet you, Miss…?

?: Huh? You haven't heard of me? Oh, right, these are one of those outer rim planets that haven't joined the Galactic Federation yet. Okay. I'm the famous bounty hunter…Samus Aran.

Amy (suddenly segueing into formal speech): Samus Aran…Wow. We are really really sorry that everyone attacked you. On behalf of all Pokémon here, we welcome you to our humble planet.

Chikorita (following Amy's lead): Yes, we really **are** sorry. Really.

_They sit down and ask her why she landed here. After a long conversation…_

Amy: …so let me get this straight. You crash-landed here and have to fix your ship to get back home, but the Pokémon here keep interrupting you so you're worried you'll be stranded here forever. Is that it, Samus Aran?

Samus Aran: You can call me Ms. Aran, kid. You **are **kids, right?

Amy and Chikorita: Uh…

Samus: I'll assume that's the case. And yes, that's it. Who around here has the authority to stop them from attacking?

Chikorita: Officer Magnezone does!

Amy: Actually, we'd like to help you, but…

_She looks at the pile of rubble and purple metal parts that was Samus' spaceship, trying really hard to comprehend how the heck she can fix such a mess. She can't._

Amy: Sorry, I don't know how to deal with metal parts…but Officer Magnezone is Electric and Steel type. He might—

Magnezone: Here, ZZZT! Did someone call for me, ZZZT?

_They spin around. Officer Magnezone is levitating outside the cave exit with his Magnemite helpers. They approach. Samus suddenly gets defensive, stands up, and points her Arm Cannon at them._

Samus: Who are you?

Magnezone: ZZZT! Easy there, ma'am. I am the primary officer in this region, ZZZT.

Magnemite #1: We overheard you ZZZT might need some ZZZT assistance. We'd be ZZZT honored to ZZZT help! ZZZT ZZZT!

Samus (relaxing): Great! Do you know how to fuse a carburetor with an FX-920 zanglehopper when they've been charred by a 510 degree atmospheric temperature and crushed at a velocity of 300 miles per hour?

Amy and Chikorita: Wha_—_wha_—_what?

Magnezone: My specialty, ZZZT! Watch and learn, ZZZT!

_Officer Magnezone and his Magnemite helpers help Samus in re-molding warped ship pieces, piecing them back together, fusing others, fixing the hyperdrive engine, and using electricity to jump-start a few others. Amy and Chikorita can only watch in awe, overwhelmed by the complexity. While the officer works, he has Samus explain to him everything that happened since she crash-landed._

Samus: …and then there was this 5 foot tall rabbit creature, with two others—I forget what they looked like—and they shot these huge, translucent heart-shaped things at me! I didn't feel a thing. Turns out it was a courtship ritual.

Magnezone: Oh yes, the ever-famous Attract move, ZZZT. Luckily, we never have to deal with "romance" or that sort of thing, ZZZT. Keeps us from being distracted, ZZZT.

_Amy and Chikorita are closer to the two Magnemites, who happened to overhear everything Samus and Magnezone said._

Magnemite #1: Romance? What the ZZZT is that?

Magnemite #2: Don't ask me. Must be a ZZZT "gender" thing, ZZZT!

Magnemite #1: Sure ZZZT makes them write ZZZT terrible poetry!

Chikorita: Whoa whoa whoa! What do you mean it's a…"gender"…thing…?

Magnemite #1: All I know ZZZT is that Officer Magnezone and ZZZT us don't ZZZT have any. ZZZT ZZZT!

Amy and Chikorita: …WHAAAAAAT? (First Dialga, now them? How the heck are we supposed to **tell?)**

_Team Pecha can't take it anymore and faints. The two Magnemites just look at each other, dumbfounded._

Magnemite #1: Uuuh…Are we ZZZT responsible for that, ZZZT?

Magnemite #2: I don't ZZZT think so. Must be ZZZT something we ZZZT said.

_They think over that for a bit more before finally getting it. They double over in laughter._

Both Magnemites: …Oh, I see! HAHAHAHAHA—ZZZT—HAHAHA—ZZZT_—_HAHAHA!

Magnezone: Hey, no slacking off, ZZZT!

Samus: (Robots laughing? First time I've ever heard that.)

_When Team Pecha recovers, the ship's outer hull is almost completely fixed. Curious, they go inside and play around. By this time, it's evening outside. Samus, Officer Magnezone, and the two Magnemites place the final piece into position, which is that mysterious black box Samus was holding onto all that time. When the front console lights up, a voice suddenly emits from the speakers on the ship. It scares Amy and Chikorita at first, but soon after they recover, they try to find where it's coming from._

Adam Malkovich: **Samus!** What took you so long? You know, being a brain-in-a-computer has its disadvantages when the ship **actually crashes!** I swear, if I was on board when those X Parasites infected you—! Oh. Hi there, Mr. Robots.

Samus: Adam…Here's someone you might want to thank. His name is Officer Magnezone.

Adam: Well good to meet you, officer! I'm Adam Malkovich, Samus Aran's commanding officer.

Samus: Former CO.

Adam: I'm still your CO, you know.

Magnezone: Fascinating, ZZZT. You even have brain-in-a-computers, ZZZT!

Adam: Excuse me? The "brain-in-a-computer" has a name!

Magnezone: With personality too, ZZZT. Well, we're going, ZZZT. We'll make sure no one shoots you down as you exit, ZZZT. Thank you for your cooperation, ma'am!

Samus: No, thank **you,** officer. You know, if everyone were as considerate as you, the universe would be a much better place.

Magnezone: It really would be, ZZZT!

Adam: (Why does he only talk to you, Lady…?)

_They leave. Samus starts the ship and lets Adam fly it up out of the atmosphere._

Samus: Sorry about the delay, Adam. Let's set a course for the Galactic Federation right now. They're going to wonder why that mission we just finished is taking so long.

Adam: Already set, Lady. We're taking those two children with us too, right?

Samus: Wait, what?

_She spins around to where Adam is shining a spotlight on…Amy and Chikorita!_

Amy and Chikorita: AAAAAHH!

Samus (furious): What are you DOING here?

Amy: I'm sorry! We, uh…wanted to see what your ship looked like from the inside!

Chikorita: We're sorry! We're leaving right now—Huh?

_Chikorita tries to push open the clear elevator door in the center of the room, but it doesn't budge. Amy tries too, but no luck either. They then try to push it together with all their might._

Amy: Aaargh! Uurgh! Urf! YEEAAARRRGH! Stupid thing…c'mon…budge already…

Chikorita: GAH! AAAAARGH! …*huff huff*…Why isn't this opening?

Amy: Why can't we get out?

Samus (rubbing her temples): We're in outer space. Of course the door is locked. Once we set a course…we can't cancel it…which means…

_Amy and Chikorita look out the window and see not only the millions of stars getting closer and closer, but the ground getting farther and farther away. They gasp and jump for joy. Meanwhile, Samus and Adam start arguing._

Amy and Chikorita: THIS IS IT! THIS IS IT! WE'RE GOING ON A SPACE ADVENTURE!

Adam: Enthusiastic creatures, aren't they? …I like them! Let's keep them, Lady!

Samus: WHAT? Adam, you know it's against Galactic Federation regulations to take civilians with us!

Adam: They practically hate us now, remember? What does it matter if we pick up a stowaway or two?

Samus: Well, I get the feeling that it's **going** to matter, and…

_The rest of the argument is truncated as the ship finally clears the atmosphere and charges up its hyperdrive engine. Amy and Chikorita are dancing and singing something that goes like this:_

Amy and Chikorita: Da da da da da, DA! Da da da da da, DA!

Samus (buckling up): You girls** do** know we only have one seatbelt, right?

_The ship engages the hyperdrive, blasting off at hundreds of light-years per second. Amy and Chikorita may be thrown back against the wall, but they sure seem to enjoy it!_

Amy and Chikorita: WA-HOOOOOOOOOO!

Samus: (And after I dropped off those Etecoons and Dachoras, too. This is going to be a looooong trip…)

Narrator: And so, Amy and Chikorita, otherwise known as Team Pecha, began their outer space adventure prophesized by Grovyle and Celebi! They've saved the world once. They've saved the world twice. Can they defy the odds again and save it three times? One thing's for sure; their mission remains the same: To meet more people (read: aliens), fight more intense battles, defeat stronger enemies, discover universal truths…**and boldly go where no one has ever gone before!**

_And that of course means that this will probably be the longest fanfiction I've ever written in my life! Meanwhile, Amy's angry Hyper Voice finally reaches the ears of a battered and bruised Team Charm. Apparently, they've just landed in front of the guild, and Master Wigglytuff._

Amy (echo voice): Lopunny…THAT WAS A GIRL, YOU LIAR!

Lopunny (in excruciating pain): Yeah…we kinda…figured…that out…

_Master Wigglytuff hears it too. He bursts out laughing._

The End!—Whoa! What am I saying? That was just a reflex that I do whenever a chapter ends hilariously! What I meant to say was…uh… **To be continued!** (Yeah!)

**Coming up next: So why the heck is this story called "The Other Amy"? Get a hint when Team Pecha travels to their first alien planet and experiences all sorts of confusion and stuff in the next chapter...**Big Amy, Little Amy**!**


	2. Big Amy, Little Amy

**Disclaimers: The characters, locales, incidents, etc. mentioned in this story are fictional. Any resemblance to anything in real life is completely coincidental and not intended by the author, EVEN IF THERE'S A CHARACTER THAT STRONGLY RESEMBLES THE AUTHOR! And while I'm at it, I don't own Pokémon, Metroid, or anything else that is the definition of fanfiction. I sure do own the original characters, though!**

Chapter 2: Big Amy, Little Amy

_-June 22, 2010-_

_What do you know?_

_I've managed to graduate from high school without falling victim to the things normal teenagers usually fall for. On one hand, I've had an inordinate amount of self-control and an IQ of that of a 21-year-old when I was only ten, yet on the other hand, I just DO NOT enjoy any of the regular stuff that normal teenagers are "supposed" to enjoy. Never dated (never even had a boyfriend, for that matter), never went to the mall on a shopping spree, never had to even wrangle with illegal substances…the list could go on and on. Yesterday was the longest day of the year, the first day of summer…and one of the longest days of my life. Between going to school to help finish up that friendship picture to that school-sponsored All-Night Grad Party, I've stayed awake for almost 24 hours straight! It felt so weird skipping bedtime…I'll never do that again._

_But at the same time, I don't know if it has quite hit me yet that I'll never see any of my classmates ever again, nor do I know if I'm mentally prepared for college yet. At 18, I may technically be a legal adult, but I sure don't feel like one. Now don't give me that "Oh, but you're already a legal adult" kind of lecture. If I don't feel like it, I don't feel like it! I'll admit that the graduation ceremony was the closest I've ever felt to be a true rite-of-passage (I actually managed to pay attention to every word they said!), but what I really need is an awesome rite-of-passage like they do in Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time. Since I've always felt two years behind my actual age, the best time would probably be my 20th birthday. After all, in Japan, people become legal adults at age 20 too._

_I'm writing just so you, my future self, will know exactly what I was like when I was 18, as even I already know how foggy my elementary school memories are becoming. Sometimes I feel like I should never be a teenager at all, that it would be better if I was stuck at, say, ten years old, for another decade and then become an adult when I'm ready instead of slogging through the phase of life that most everyone wants to dramatize. Really, what's so great about being a teenager?_

_Actually, it's not that bad. I studied hard, got mostly A's and B's, and made more friends this year than all the friends I made from 7th-11th grade combined. The most drama I ever had was deciding whether to go to George Mason or Randolph-Macon for college! I spent months and months in constant agony in debate before (with advice from my dad) I finally decided on Randolph-Macon._

_So. A long summer in front of me. As you might know, I've started several journals, but have never been able to continue on one for long. At least this time my brother doesn't seem interested in looking through them. What I do remember was that back in elementary school I promised myself that I'd never fall prey to the traps that'd plague normal teenagers. Furthermore, I also promised that I'd instead use that time to rapidly improve writing and drawing skills. I guess I fulfilled those promises very well. Almost too well. …I'm tired. Well, future me, I'll write more tomorrow. Goodnight._

I finally dropped my pencil. Ow, my left hand. It's one thing to get hooked on typing for hours on end; it's quite another to actually write for so long. Maybe I should stop pressing down so hard…I don't want to get carpal tunnel before I even start working on my epic manga series.

I looked at my watch on my right arm. 11:00, huh? My normal bedtime was two hours ago, but I didn't feel tired at all. I got up from my desk, closed the notebook, went to the bathroom to brush my teeth, blah blah blah blah blah. Quietly, of course. Mom and Dad and my brother were all asleep already. After I turned off the light and hopped into bed, I grabbed my old Nintendo DS (not my newer pink DS Lite) and set the alarm to 5:45 am, being sure to plug the AC adapter in. School might be over, but my dad wanted me to get up early so I could run outside in the morning. It was to "get fit for college", he said. Usually, it takes me a long time to fall asleep, but this time it was fairly quick.

I lolled through my magical nonsensically shifting dreams that I usually never remember anyway…until I came across Palkia. Palkia? Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa. I've almost never had dreams about Pokémon at all, much less legendary ones. He opened a black swirly hole in the space in front of me. It grew bigger and bigger, with countless tendrils and neon flashy patterns. I tried to run, but as usual, I couldn't move any faster than 10 inches per hour. Those tendrils started to catch me! What was Palkia trying to do? But then, he wasn't Palkia anymore. He started morphing himself with those tendrils, dragging me into the spacial void. Amidst the gushy mess, I thought I saw a reflection of a face somewhere in there. A black monster fox that I knew as…

BEEP BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP BEEP!

It was my DS alarm. Confused, I turned it off as fast as possible. I realized I just had a nightmare. A nightmare? I don't think I've had one of those since…for as long as I could remember. I was glad it was over, though. I threw on a dark purple t-shirt and black shorts, my favorite outfit for exercise.

Typical routine: Pop out my retainers, wash and dry them, go downstairs to the kitchen and have cereal. Brush my teeth, etc., and make sure all my homework was in my backpack. Why wasn't my brother waking up? I wonder how he'll get along when I go off to college. I then tied up my dark-brown hair in two ponytails, and went downstairs to check the thermometer on the back porch outside. 70 degrees. Yes! This past April it was unusually cold, and when May came the temperature shot up as high as 90. Global Weirding, that's what it was, not Global Warming. I slipped on my Pokéwalker before going out the door to run outside.

It was a beautiful morning, though it was a bit humid for 70 degree weather. I wasn't complaining, though; it would get up into the 90's during the day. I almost never got to walk in the mornings, and was thrilled that I'd be able to do this for the rest of the summer. It reminded me of the time in my DS game Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time when Grovyle explained when he saw a sunrise for the first time. As I walked on the sidewalks through the suburbs on my way to my old elementary school, the very fact that there weren't many people outside only let me enjoy the experience even more.

My plan WAS to get to the school, walk the loop around it, and then run back home, but the closer I got to the school, the more I sensed an odd sensation in the air. I looked up at the sky. A tiny speck grew bigger and bigger, and it looked like that purple ship that the Galactic Federation gave Samus Aran in Metroid Fusion. Wait a second…Could it really be Samus' ship?

I approached cautiously as the ship slowed down and landed up on the school's soccer field on the hill next to the blacktop. Half of me wanted to formally greet whoever was inside to Earth, but the more rational half of me told me to stay hidden and avoid getting vaporized by possible alien lasers. And how could Samus Aran be here, anyway? She's supposed to be a video game character! How could a video game character be in the real world? I really wished I brought a camera or something with me…

Anyway, the cylindrical elevator thingy lowered, the smoke cleared, and out came…a Jigglypuff and a Chikorita. They were cheering and dashing out eagerly. I noticed that Jigglypuff had a really big, but cute, red bow tied to her back (maybe it was glued on), while the Chikorita carried a squat yellow bag with a pink egg-shaped badge with wings on it. Wait a second...they couldn't have been...they were. Undeniably, inexplicably, they were the exact same main characters of a fanfiction I recently wrote called Amy, Chikorita, and the Echoes of Time, just as I'd always imagined them to look like. Initially, this completely confused me. Video game characters were one thing, but Pokémon I came up with were something completely different. All these thoughts flew through my head at once, but the only thing I could squeak out to show for it was, "...Team Pecha!"

They heard me. They saw me. They then gasped and shouted ecstatically, "WOOHOO! An alien! An alien! An—!"

The Jigglypuff stopped and said, "Wait...How did you know we're Team Pecha? (I mean, we didn't write it down anywhere, I don't think...)"

Oops. A really important fact that never occurred to me before finally did. I realized I was in the uncomfortable position of knowing way more about them then they knew about me. I knew I'd have to be really careful about what I could say from then on, but now I had to come up with some sort of explanation. "Uuuuuh...you're pink, and she's green, and a Pecha Berry is both, so..."

They stared up at me, jaws dropping. "Whhhooooaaa...!"

"Wh—what?" I asked, immediately regretting what I said, remembering too late that it was exactly word for word what the Jigglypuff (Amy?) said in Chapter 2.

"You're a MIND-READING ALIEN!" they concluded.

Whoa. I did **not** see** that **one coming. I was stunned for a few seconds as I took it in. "Say wha—?" I then realized that they had inadvertently provided me with the perfect excuse. "Uuuhh...y...yeah! You're right! You're totally right! I could READ YOUR MINDS so I could know how to not offend you and stuff like that! Yeah!" I blurted.

"So can you, like, tell what I'm thinking right now?" asked the Chikorita.

"Mmmmm..." I closed my eyes, doing my best to fake doing the impossible. But then an even better idea occurred to me. "...No. Sorry. Actually, I'm a mind-reader in training. I mean, I can tell your names, your species, and stuff that happened in your pasts, but I can't tell what you're actually** thinking** thinking. Not yet, anyway." That way, if I accidentally blurt out more than they'd expect me to know, they can just blame it on my fake mind-reading abilities.

But my limitations didn't matter to them. "Mind reader! Mind reader! YAAAAAY!" they cheered as they ran around me in playful excitement. I guess they couldn't take it anymore and had to let out that excitement a.k.a. geek out, which was what I wanted to do too, but I held myself back for the time being.

"Hey, wait a minute. How come I can understand what you guys are saying, anyway?" I asked. After all, humans weren't supposed to be able to understand Pokémon language…right?

"It's Ms. Aran's translator thingy!" replied the Jigglypuff.

Ms. Aran? As in, THE Samus Aran? As if on cue, the elevator thingy retracted back in and came back out again. There she was, the super-famous 6'3" tall bounty hunter with her trademark red-orange-and-yellow Power Suit (no, wait, that was her orange Fusion Suit!) and metallic Arm Cannon. I was only 5'5"; she was way taller than me. She gazed all around and noted, "Huh? This doesn't look like Capital Planet at all." She then turned to me and asked, "Hey you, kid! Where are we, anyway?"

I could only stare and say, "Uhhh…North America? The United States? Virginia?" The Pokémon stared at me, completely confused.

Samus narrowed her eyes. "Excuse me? Everyone knows that Virginia is among the most technologically developed regions on Capital Planet; in fact, the whole galaxy. The **Galactic Federation** is there! This is the middle of nowhere."

I flinched. I didn't like how she was threatening to point that Arm Cannon right at me. "Wh-what are you talking about?" I mean, come on! This wasn't the middle of nowhere. This was a suburb; in other words, my hometown! And what was she talking about, anyway?

A male-sounding voice from the spaceship spoke up. "Fascinating. This building is made with late 20th-century technology. Wait. That sign says, 'Since 1983…'"

"1983? Whoa whoa whoa…Okay, let me get this straight. And DO NOT lie or laugh at me, kid, when I ask this: What year is it now?"

"It's 2010. Why?" I replied.

The voice from the spaceship said, "Actually, I believe it's pronounced **twenty-ten**, not two-thousand-and-ten."

For a brief moment, Samus' eyes widened, but then she swiftly turned around. Her reaction was so subtle that if I'd been paying any less attention, I'd have completely missed it. "That's classified. I must discuss the matter over with my commanding officer first. Thank you for your time." She was about to step onto the elevator again when the Jigglypuff and Chikorita started shouting, "Wait wait wait!"

"What you mean, wait?"

"I wanna explore this place some more!" shouted the Chikorita. The Jigglypuff added, "Don't leave us!"

"Oh…right. Well…it's not like we CAN…"

The ship's computer voice—I think it was Adam Malkovich's—addressed me. "Yes. We—uh—are in a bit of a predicament right now. Why don't YOU show these children around while we plan on what to do next, kid?"

"Sure! Just leave it to me, Mr. Mal—uh, I mean, yes sir!" I saluted for emphasis. If he really was Adam Malkovich, I wouldn't want him getting suspicious.

"YAAAAAAY!" shouted the Jigglypuff and Chikorita. They sang and danced all around me again.

A warm, happy, fuzzy jumpy feeling practically blasted out of my chest. Finally, I could geek out! I haven't felt this thrilled since…since…when I was, like, ten! I wanted to dance too, but I couldn't quite figure out their exact moves just yet, so I skipped/jumped/bounded (some funky fusion of moves I haven't done since…you get the idea…) and pranced, leading the way.? They followed me, singing and dancing the whole time, leaving behind Samus and Mr. Malkovich to discuss…well, who cares? Let's get this show on the road! (Honestly, why wasn't this a musical or something?)

* * *

I led them on the sidewalks on the way back to my house. It was the only thing I could think of doing at the moment, to be honest.

"The sky looks the same!" shouted the Jigglypuff, bouncing up and down. "So is the sun! And the grass!" exclaimed the Chikorita, snuggling up in it and soaking up the morning sunlight.

"But everything else is…I dunno…NEW! Hey, Miss Alien! What's this planet called?" asked the Jigglypuff, bouncing up and down.

"Earth. Third planet from the Sun—"

"So you're an Earthian?"

"Earth**ling**," I corrected, but then held my mouth. "No wait, I meant—"

I was going to say that I was a human, but then the Chikorita interrupted me. "Hey, Miss Alien! Let's go on this big gray path in the middle!" She and the Jigglypuff ran out onto the road, and I flipped out.

"Wait wait wait!" I shouted, racing onto the road (wide enough for two lanes). I grabbed them both (the Chikorita was really heavy!) and dragged them back to the sidewalk.

"What? Why?" complained the Chikorita, while the Jigglypuff just stood there fearfully.

"That's called a road. You HAVE to look both ways before crossing it. Otherwise—"

A shiny SUV whizzed by—way over the 25 mile-per-hour speed limit. "—those things called cars will run you over. Instant death. NOT good."

"Y—yikes…so we should stay on this smaller white path, then?" asked the Jigglypuff.

"Yeah. It's called a sidewalk. It's made for walking."

"There was someone in there, wasn't there? So they're like Ms. Aran's ship thingy, right?" asked the Chikorita.

"No. Cars are ground-only. We drive them to get from place to place. Much faster than walking. That's why these roads take up a lot of space, and there are several rules…[abbreviated]…"

"Can YOU drive?"

"Yeah, but I don't like it very much. It'd be cool if I could drive a spaceship someday, honestly."

"Hey, what's this?"

"This is a mailbox. We get letters, but now it's mostly e-mail, and…[abbreviated]…"

"Oooooh…aaaaah…[also abbreviated]…"

"This is a house. We LIVE in it, and…[abbreviated]…"

"Oooooo…aaaaaaaah…[also abbreviated]…"

Anyway, my mom said that I'd make a great teacher, but I didn't think so, because I figured, if I was the good little girl who paid attention to the teacher while everyone else acted as disrespectful as all get-out, there was no way **I** could get little kids to shut up and pay attention. The Jigglypuff and the Chikorita, however, paid full-blown attention to my every word. I knew that was the exception rather than the rule, so I relished it while I could. That's why my explanations sounded nerdy a.k.a. super-intelligent. Of course, by this time, my throat was starting to get tired, but I didn't care.

"This place is AWESOME, Miss Mind-Reading Alien! It's just like Treasure Town, but better!" raved the Chikorita.

The Jigglypuff agreed. "Yeah, I know, right?"

"Oh no, you don't have to call me that. My name's Amy!"

I guessed I should've expected the reaction that came next, but I wasn't really sure if the Jigglypuff was who I thought she was. Only thing was, their reactions made me regret what I said. It made them pause, gaping in shock. "Did you just say…Amy?" gasped the Chikorita.

"Uh…Is…something wrong?" I asked tentatively, hoping it wasn't what I thought.

"But—but—Amy is…Amy is...!"

"MY name is Amy!" shouted the Jigglypuff, pointing to herself. Chikorita's leaf pointed toward her to help out.

So she **was**, after all. "Wha—No way!" I exclaimed, stepping back. Luckily, I recovered quickly enough to say, "I mean…actually, Amy is a really common name. I was bound to meet someone else with the same name sometime, you know what I mean?"

"Oh yeah! Wow...I didn't know it was a common alien name!" said the Jigglypuff—I mean, Amy. She looked relieved too. But the Chikorita didn't. "Uh…so if you're both Amy…then what should we call you?" she asked.

"Big Amy?" I suggested. "You can be Little Amy."

"…AWWWWW! I'm tired of being little! I want to be Big Amy!" she pouted.

"But that doesn't make any sense. She's way taller than you," the Chikorita pointed out.

"Not if I do this!" She puffed herself up, bounced really high, and landed right on my head. She felt really fluffy and comfy (I mean, comfortable). She posed in a TA-DAA type of winning pose and grinned. "See?"

"I see! How about this: You can be Big Amy as long as you stay on my head! How about it?" I suggested, grinning. She was so fluffy I just couldn't help it.

"YAAAAY!" cheered the Jigglypuff—I mean, Big Amy.

"Hey, don't forget me, Little Amy! I'm Chikorita! Big Amy and me make up Team Pecha!" She pulled the shiny badge out of her yellow bag and held it up for emphasis.

"Nice to meet you, Chikorita! Whoa, cool! You guys are Master Rank!"

And with that, well, counting their amazement that I could tell they were Master Rank, we continued on.

* * *

_Meanwhile, inside the purple Galactic Federation ship resting on the elementary school's soccer field, Samus sits down in her chair and groans._

Samus: Adam…Have you verified what that kid said?

Adam: Judging by my scans of the architecture, locales, and organisms, I have come to the conclusion that…yes…we ARE in the year 2010.

Samus (in total disbelief): 2010. 2010! How did we end up 500 years into the PAST?

Adam: I warned you about that new Space Pirate weapon. Didn't I?

Samus: What, so now they can make time-spanning wormholes? I bet they want us to go into the past so we mess with the time stream. Maybe they want us to make it so that the Galactic Federation was never made!

Adam: I dunno…that was when people had first contact with extraterrestrials back in—

Samus: TODAY. We just messed that up, see?

Adam: No one else saw us yet. This is probably just another isolated incident.

Samus: *sigh*…At any rate, we have to find some way to get back to the Galactic Federation in 2510 as soon as possible. What do you think, Adam?

Adam: I say we find those children and ask what they know, Lady.

Samus: Puffball and Dinosaur Girls? They're from a primitive outer-rim planet. What would THEY know?

Adam: I'm just saying…it's worth a shot. Or, failing that, we can always take them back there later.

_Samus starts up the ship and flies it to the location on the monitor where said "Puffball and Dinosaur Girls" have gone, trying not to hit any trees or houses along the way. _

* * *

"…and this is MY house!" I exclaimed proudly, standing next to where my favorite tulip garden used to be. Poor tulips. Too bad they can only survive for one week in April before they die.

"Can we go in? Can we? Can we?" they asked, jumping up and down.

"Uhhhh…" My gaze turned to the driveway. Both cars were there. That meant my whole family was still in the house. Uh-oh. "I guess so, as long as you guys are qui—"

They ran straight into the door. "Oooww…" I slapped my face, stifling a laugh. "Yeah, my house has TWO doors: This screen door, and the main door. You twist both doorknobs—like so—to open it."

"YAAAY!" They charged through the open door. "Wait, watch out for the extra step down—!" Too late. We've gotta fix that someday…

My brother came first. "Amy, who did you bring—WHAT THE—?" Then my dad, and then my mom. I cringed as I said, "Uh…yeah. This is Big Amy—I mean, Jigglypuff and Chikorita. Apparently, they exist in real life."

* * *

Weeeeeelll…That wasn't TOO bad! If you didn't count their...interesting...double-take reactions.

My dad, supportive as ever, recovered the fastest and was happily chatting away with them. My reality-grounded mom was a little harder to win over (she freaked out that they were "harmful to my health" or something) and I had a feeling that the only reason she could stand them was because they acted so much like little kids. (It's called "a connection to real life".) I was the most worried about my 16-year-old brother since he had long since outgrown Pokémon, but he seemed to take it pretty well. He did have a sudden mysterious excuse to go to a friend's house to practice for his band, though.

I was about to show Big Amy and Chikorita my video games when I heard a loud CRASH outside the window of my room. It was Samus and Adam. Apparently, the purple ship landed in the backyard. We ran out the back door to meet Samus as she left the ship.

"Samus—I mean, Ms. Aran! What're you doing here?" I asked, running to meet them. I still wasn't sure why she kept her Fusion Suit on when she clearly didn't need one to survive in Earth's atmosphere. She rubbed her temples as if she was beleaguered and said, "We came to a conclusion…and…Adam, can you tell them?"

"Do any of you know how to get to the future?" Adam shouted bluntly.

I was stunned. I should've connected the dots earlier. "You're from the fu—?"

"Yeah yeah yeah!" shouted Big Amy and Chikorita. "Ask Celebi!" said Chikorita. "No, ask Dialga!" suggested Big Amy.

"Who are they?" asked Samus.

Big Amy explained, "We know Dialga. He can send you guys through time, but he doesn't live here—he lives on our planet, so…"

"I see. Let's go back, Adam. And come with us, Puffball and Dinosaur Girls. We might need your help to handle this 'Dee-al-ga' guy. And you, kid? Thanks for your help, have a nice day, and if anyone asks, tell them you never saw us, okay?"

"Uh…sure," I replied, a bit surprised that Samus could say something like that, if taken any other way, might have been considered a joke.

As they prepared to leave, Big Amy sat resolutely on my head. "But I still want to be Big Amy!" she pouted. Chikorita sighed and pushed me onto the elevator. "Wanna know about OUR planet, Little Amy?" she asked. I enthusiastically agreed.

The elevator brought us into a smallish cockpit room. Samus was already sitting in her seat, pressing buttons on the console. Chikorita didn't get very far in her explanation when Samus cut in, "Wait a second. What's SHE doing here—?"

"Lady, I've set the course. Buckle up."

The elevator turned off. The engines started up. The ship lifted off the ground.

"Oops," said Big Amy and Chikorita.

Samus groaned in frustration and rubbed her temples again.

And I was going on a space adventure too! Woohoo! This was going to be the best summer vacation EVER!

* * *

What kind of space adventure WAS this?

I wanted Chikorita to tell me more about her home planet, but nooooo…Samus had to pull up the hologram of the official Galactic Federation rulebook and lecture at us for a really long time. Suddenly, I remembered that short story The Cold Equations about a girl (*gasp* my age!) who stowed away on someone's ship and had to be kicked out into space because her mass used up more of the ship's fuel than it originally calculated. I was so worried about it happening to me, I could barely make out what Samus was saying, but I was sure it was something about how civilians were restricted from stowing away on bounty hunter ships. After only five minutes, all three of us were cringing and regretting this whole thing.

"…see, when your families hear that, say, a stray Space Pirate laser critically injures you and gives you an infection that shuts down your immune system in only two minutes, they could sue us. You know what I mean?"

"I get it!" Big Amy and I repeated for the fifth time already.

Suddenly, the ship shuddered. The hyperspace scenery outside the windows disappeared and looked like normal stars again. Were we there already? "Hey—what's Dialga doing here?" asked Chikorita, pointing out the window. Everyone looked. We saw the 14-foot Steel-Dragon Temporal Pokémon…floating out in the middle of space. Huh?

"Dialga! Dialga! It's us, Team Pecha! Can you hear us?" shouted Big Amy. "We need you to help Ms. Aran and Mr. Malkovich get back to the future!" shouted Chikorita. They were jumping up and down, waving their arms wildly.

Dialga gave us a strange look. Then he smiled. I didn't know he could smile like that. _Wait. There's something about his smile that seems…familiar…in a wrong way…_ I thought. I got suspicious. So did Samus and Adam. "Adam! Activate laser cannons NOW!"

"Right away, Samus!" The lasers at the sides of the ship charged up.

Big Amy and Chikorita shouted, "Wait wait wait! What are you doing—?" but were interrupted when Dialga opened up a big swirly blue-and-black-lined hole in front of us in the same manner that Palkia did in my dream. Wait… "It's a Dimensional Hole—" I gasped.

"It's that Space Pirate weapon!" Samus shouted, turning the ship in the opposite direction, but it was no use. We might as well have been trying to escape from a black hole. Space Pirate weapon? Wait, so did Samus' sworn enemies send her into the past? So that's what happened. As the ship lurched, Big Amy, Chikorita, and I were thrown around the cabin. It was terrifying, and I really wished there was another seatbelt, but they seemed to like it. Even though Adam managed to point the guns backwards and fire at Dialga, that was no use either. Dialga simply put up some sort of time shield that blocked the blasts.

"Chikorita…Do you think this is part of the adventure?" asked Big Amy.

"I think so. I don't know why Dialga won't talk to us…but hey! We're going to the future!"

"**Back** to the future!" shouted Big Amy.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAY!"

They might've started rejoicing (maybe because they wanted to see how they saved the future of their planet), but something still felt wrong to me. As we were sucked into the Dimensional Hole, Dialga flew in after us. He seemed to morph into this huge mass of blinding tentacles that pushed us in all the way. And somewhere in there, just like in my dream, I saw a flickering of the face of that same monster fox that I knew as…

"Zoroark!" I gasped. Right then I knew…that nightmare I had, somehow…wasn't a nightmare at all.

And we all fell in.

To be continued…

**Coming up next: Big Amy and Chikorita are not only going **Back to the Future**, they're going back to an old friend of their's…an old friend who will re-awaken memories and deep emotions they've never felt for a long, long time. As for me? Weeeeell…let's just say that, when it comes to interplanetary travel, I make the stupidest blunder in the history of stupid blunders. And no, it doesn't involve blurting out more info than I'm supposed to know. Good guess, though. What is it? Find out next time!**


	3. Back to the Future

Chapter 3: Back to the Future

"Uuugh..." My head... After we were pulled into that hole, we must have all blacked out while we were in the time tunnel. At least, I thought it was the time tunnel; I couldn't imagine what else that light-blue void with stars and giant yellow beams lining the walls could be. "Wha...what happened...?" I groaned. I still couldn't believe it. Did Zoroark really pull us all into the future as Dialga? Why? What did he want with us? What did he want with me? ...Where was he, anyway?

Adam's voice piped up from the ship's speakers. "That wormhole really spun us around. You all fainted from the dizziness. I've been trying to wake you guys up all this time."

Samus reacted swiftly. "Wha—I did too? Where's that Dialga—?"

"He's not here anymore, Samus. Don't worry."

Not here anymore? Sneaky guy...I really hoped we wouldn't run into him again. But on the other hand, my storytelling instincts were practically screaming at me that this wouldn't be the last time we crossed paths with him. Not by a long shot. I shuddered and tried to forget about it right then and there. After all, he never actually talked to us yet, so why worry about it? Maybe it was nothing.

Big Amy and Chikorita started asking questions at once. "So are we in the future? Are we? Are we? Are we?"

"I guess we'll find out when we reach Planet Portania!" said Adam.

Team Pecha just stared. "What's Planet Portania?"

Adam stifled a chuckle, and right then, I had a feeling I knew why. Samus addressed them, "Well, girls, let me ask you...Do you know what your home planet is called?"

Big Amy started jumping up and down. "I know! I know! It's...uh...uuuuhhhhh... "

"Amy? I don't think they ever...gave it...a name...hahaha..." Chikorita weakly finished.

Adam explained it to them. "Well, there you have it. But we at the Galactic Federation needed to name every single outer rim planet for reference. News flash: To us, your home planet is called PN-502, otherwise known as Planet Portania. And for the record, I didn't come up with that name. The Ylla did. They're good at giving planets names that sound good in all the major languages of the Federation."

They still stared. "Por-tah-nee-uh?"

"Well...maybe except yours..." he conceded.

The ship lurched, and the scenery outside the front window changed. We could see outer space, and a planet below. I pointed at the vaguely Earth-like planet and asked, "Is that it?"

"That's it," said Samus. "Just hang tight, though. It'll be a while before we can take you back home, okay?"

I replied, "Yeah, but…what if I **don't **want to go back home yet...?" After all, how often did I—did **anyone**—get the chance to meet fictional characters in real life?

Big Amy reassured me, "That's okay too, Little Amy. We can show you around! That is, if we're still in the present…"

As the ship entered the atmosphere, I thought back to the previous conversation and began to wonder...What if the planet actually had a real name, and what if Big Amy knew it? Would Adam go into the registry and change it, or would he leave it as Planet Portania? But...in truth...**I** thought up that name first. And if I remember correctly, the Ylla (I think it's pronounced "YIH-luh") are supposed to be one of several extremely intelligent and peaceful species in the galaxy, much like the Chozo. So who ARE they, exactly?

* * *

_Meanwhile, below on Planet "Por-tah-nee-uh", there's an amazingly revamped Treasure Town. It looks like a metropolis on a mountain, with businesses everywhere, stairs (and elevators) leading to about 99 floors worth of residence areas, shopping centers, etc. In an area near the tippy-top resides the former Duskull Bank, now the Dusknoir Bank. A Sableye and a Snorunt are sitting at the top, animatedly chatting away, when they simultaneously see the tiny little speck of a purple spaceship in the sky. They stop and look at each other._

Sableye: Wheh-heh?

Snorunt: GIGIGI?

Sableye: Me see something.

Snorunt: Me smell it too.

Sableye: We tell Lord Dusknoir?

Snorunt: Yes, we do.

Dusknoir: No necessity for such measures, boys.

_The one and only Lord Dusknoir strides up from behind them._

Dusknoir: Our recent temporal-spanning adventures have sharpened the antenna on my cranium. It has become acutely aware of any alteration in the temporal fabric...regardless of location.

Snorunt: Oooohhh...Me see!

Dusknoir: Boys? Shall we investigate these interlopers and attempt all measures necessary to prevent them from threatening the welfare of our fair planet?

Sableye and Snorunt: Yeah yeah yeah!

_The two of them jump on Dusknoir's back, while the other five Sableye overhear, drop what they're doing, and follow. He heads off to intercept the ship._

Sableye: But Lord Dusknoir! It very scary, maybe. Sure you be okay?

Dusknoir: Relax, Sableye. If I could execute a group of inferior beings—I mean, humans, frighten one of their own, pursue Grovyle for five years straight, endure two Roar of Times from Master—I mean, Primal Dialga, survive his rage and a thrashing, AND become the most respected entrepreneur worldwide, I am able to handle any extraterrestrial that might emerge. Don't you concur?

Sableye: Yeah, you right, Lord Dusknoir!

_He really does understand. I'm still not sure why. Anyway, not just the seven of them, but almost everyone from Treasure Town saw it too. They drop whatever they were doing and run with Dusknoir's group. Meanwhile, deep in what used to be Apple Woods, now Apple Jungle, we see an awesome-looking tree house resting on top of the tallest tree in the "jungle". It's facing east; a perfect view of the sunrise. A familiar 2'11'' tall Wood Gecko Pokémon opens the door and enjoys the light for several minutes before finally seeing the spaceship slowly coming down._

Grovyle: ...? (Wait a second... )

_He dashes back inside and goes to a bookcase, ripping all the books/scrolls out. His thrashing wakes up a pink Celebi on the nearby leafy "bunk bed". She falls out of the top canopy._

Celebi: Ooow! Grovyle, what are you—?

Grovyle: Celebi! Where's that story about Team Pecha's space adventure?

Celebi: It's right there. Why?

_She points to where it is. Its location was so obvious that Grovyle slaps his face. He picks it up and flips it to the right page._

Grovyle (reading aloud): "...And then they came across our planet Month 6, Day 23, at 6:55 in the morning, purely by accident. Apparently they fell into the future shortly after visiting their first planet..." This is it! This is it!

Celebi (annoyed): What?

_He runs out of the house, jumps down into the trees, and swings through the jungle as fast as he can, just like Tarzan—no, even better than Tarzan. Celebi flies after him._

Celebi: Grovyle! Where are you going?

Grovyle: LOOK UP, CELEBI!

_She does. She sees it and gasps. Grovyle looks up too, and the sight of it strengthens his resolve. He swings even faster to the site where everyone's gathering._

Grovyle: (If I'm not mistaken, this is my only chance to see Amy and Chikorita again! I just know it is!)

* * *

I craned my neck around Samus' seat, totally transfixed by the sight through the window. Sure, the landscape and infrastructure was complex and beautiful, but what really got me was the crowd below. Pokémon of all shapes and sizes came out to greet us, but I recognized...only half of them? Wait, so there were over 1,000 Pokémon in total?

"Whoooaaa...Everything's so different and...futuristic-looking!" said Big Amy.

"Yeah, looks like the future to me too," agreed Chikorita.

Samus announced, "Understood. Okay, so here's the plan. Puffball and Dinosaur Girls, you go out there and see if it's **really** the future or not. If it is, great, if not, you go back home and never come back."

Chikorita was outraged. "WHAT? But we didn't even go anywhere yet! What kind of adventure—?"

"I'm not done. Either way, you find this Dialga person, appeal to his better nature, and ask him to send you and the kid back to the past. After the three of you go, we'll leave and go back to the Galactic Federation. Life will return to normal, the end, goodbye...and we'll continue working for the Galactic Federation like we always do. What do you say?"

"Fiiiiine... " we grumbled. It was against OUR better nature, but we didn't want her to give us another super-long lecture.

Then we felt another lurch. The ship landed. Chikorita ran to the elevator first, saying, "C'mon, guys! Let's go!"

Big Amy wouldn't let go of my head, so I thought it'd be okay to step in there with Chikorita, but I didn't realize how cramped it would be until I stepped right in there.

Samus objected, "Wait—" and tried to pull me back, but she stepped on the elevator just as the door shut and started moving. It was really cramped. Obviously, it was made for Samus only, and we could barely move with the four of us stuffed in there. She hissed at me, "Listen to me, kid. Whatever you do, DO NOT MOVE until I tell you to." What the heck did she mean? She was crushing me against the wall. There was no way I could've possibly been able to move. And it shouldn't have taken this long for it to reach the bottom, should it?

The elevator hit the ground and stopped, so that all we could see was steam. Funny. I didn't remember steam coming from Samus' ship in the Metroid games.

A deep, baritone, scary voice emitted from the outside. "Hoo-hoo-hoo-ha-ha-ha! Greetings, interloping extraterrestrials! Your ambiguity is quite amusing; you have the temerity to intrude upon our homeland, yet you are timid enough to cloak yourselves in a blanket of water vapor!"

Big Amy and Chikorita squeezed closer to each other. Samus charged up her Power Beam, sucking up some of the steam. I was just plain terrified, mostly because I already had an idea who was talking, and fervently wished I stayed on the ship.

"It should be lucid by my tone of voice that we shall not welcome belligerent acts, and that if you were to even insinuate subjugation of our peaceful populace, we shall reciprocate with necessary force!"

More steam cleared up, and we could make out several shadows in the distance. It was the crowd. In front of us was another source of where the steam was being sucked.

"If your disconfigured gray matters misconstrue our intentions as exactly the opposite of what we mean them to be...well, then, I cannot assist you. This is your final opportunity to display any peaceful intentions you may harbor. If not...prepare yourselves for instant, excruciating annihilation!"

The steam eventually cleared to reveal...a Dusknoir charging up a black-hole laser beam in his stomach, aiming right at us!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHH! DUSKNOIR!" It wasn't just Big Amy and Chikorita, it was me too. Samus was so shocked that she accidentally jumped forward and kicked them out of the elevator area, but regained her composure and rolled out of the way to face him. But that left me in the path of the blast!

But I needn't have worried. Dusknoir sputtered, "What the—? Inconceivable!" and lost his focus. The stomach on his chest snapped shut around the dark energy and squelched it, making a funny noise winding-down noise. Then it exploded inside him and made him collapse. It almost reminded me of the time Tarzan tried to scare his mom with a roar, but because she knew he was coming, he was forced to blow it out in a raspberry. As for the crowd, they finally seemed to have snapped out of it and started shouting something like, "Ohmigosh, it's them! THE Team Pecha! It's really them, see? Can I have your autograph? How did you feel when you saved the world twice?" When they started swarming, it looked like even Samus couldn't restrain herself from shooting anything any longer.

"Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait WAIT WAIT!" shouted a voice from a forest (or jungle?) behind us. It was faint, but it elicited a massive reaction from the crowd. They all froze in place. Then they started whispering stuff like, "Ohmigosh, ohmigosh, it's...**him.**"

The four of us just stared at them in confusion. "...Who?" But I had a feeling that he was who I thought he was, especially since Dusknoir was here.

The one and only super-famous grass lizard emerged from the forest (or jungle?), leapt over every single Pokémon (including us and the ship!) in one bound and landed perfectly in front of a twitching Dusknoir. Everyone suddenly became eerily silent. With a glare from the guy, they stepped several paces back in reverence. Obviously, they all respected the guy, and even Samus did too. She lowered her Arm Cannon and...I think she turned on her Scan Visor or something. Or maybe she was just staring in awe. But what I really wanted to see was what would come next…the one event I wished would always happen.

"G...Grovyle?" gasped Big Amy and Chikorita.

He slowly turned his head around, eyes widening in disbelief. I didn't think he even bothered to look when he leapt over everyone. "...Amy? Chikorita?"

"...GROVYLE!" they cried. Time seemed to slow down to a crawl as they raced toward him. I know the three of them should've reached each other in half a second, but it felt like five slow ones, ones that I enjoyed every moment of. Big Amy and Chikorita jumped and bowled him over; hugging him like their lives depended on it. "You're back! You're back! YOU'RE BAAAAACK!" they shouted, crying uncontrollably at the same time.

"Okay, I get it! It really** is **you guys! Now can you just let go...please?" he gasped.

"AAH! We're sorry!" They did. Big Amy was the first to talk, but she kept hiccupping between sobs. "I—I thought I'd...never s—see you again...ever..." Right then, it hit me like a pang. That was exactly what I sounded like in elementary school whenever I tried to talk while crying.

"M—me too...I missed you..." gasped Chikorita.

A subtle change flickered across Grovyle's eyes. Was he looking...tenderly at them? "I...I guess...I had no idea how much I missed you guys too." This time, he voluntarily picked them up and hugged them. They looked just like Tiana's happy family... "Aww..." I sniffed. It was the reunion I always wished I could have.

But, the problem was, **that** became a mistake.

Grovyle heard me. No one seemed to notice me, so I thought it was safe to inch out into the open. Boy, how wrong I was. The moment he opened his eyes and saw me, he blanched. Then he dropped Big Amy and Chikorita, pointing a finger straight at me. And to make matters worse, Dusknoir also woke up at that time and saw me too. They both gasped, "A human!"

Big Amy and Chikorita swiveled around. Their gazes followed Grovyle's finger...right to me. "A human?" they shouted in disbelief.

And guess what? So did everyone else in the crowd. "A HUMAN?"

...Uh-oh.

Samus whispered in my ear, "Run."

She dragged me into the elevator and made it retract. Big Amy and Chikorita gasped and ran, climbing on as it lifted off the ground. And when that happened, Grovyle shouted, "NO!" and ran, sliding in just as the elevator went into the ship. The force of his jump slammed us against the back. "Ooowww..."

We all jumped out of the elevator as fast as we could, and ended up sprawled on the floor of the spaceship. It really was getting too crowded. Samus leapt into her chair and shouted, "Adam! Get us out of here NOW!"

"I'm on it, Lady. Where to?"

"Galactic Federation! Right now! No more holdups, okay?"

As the ship lifted off the ground, all the Pokémon in the crowd suddenly snapped out of it and started trying to shoot us down with Flamethrowers, Ice Beams, Hyper Beams, and all sorts of insane attacks. Luckily for us, Adam was an expert in dodging; I was amazed we weren't even hit at all.

I was stunned. Grovyle was stunned. Big Amy and Chikorita were also stunned. But the biggest shocker was to come. "GROVYLE!" shouted a voice from outside. It was a pink and shiny Celebi. She slammed against the window, looking **really** ticked off.

Grovyle groaned and slapped his face. "Oops. I forgot. Sorry, Celebi! It was an accident!"

"Whaddya think you're doing? Get back here, or I'll—"

Adam announced, "Hey. The hyperdrive's fully charged. Buckle up—oh wait, I forgot. You guys can't."

Samus just stared at Celebi with a disturbed look on her face. "That crazy alien pixie girl's not going to follow us, is she, Adam?"

"Not if I shake her off the window." Apparently, he did just that.

I just realized something important. "Hey wait, wasn't she the only other Pokémon that could send me back to the—?"

The hyperdrive activated and sent Big Amy, Chikorita, Grovyle, and me crashing into the back wall. "WA-HOOOOOO!" shouted Big Amy and Chikorita. Again.

* * *

After about 30 seconds, the ship settled into hyperspeed, and we could finally talk again. Samus apologized, "Sorry about that, kid. You gonna be okay?"

I was still scrambling to connect the dots. "Yeah, but…what was that all about?" I asked.

"Funny thing, really. Most of the time, you would've been okay. It's just that Planet Portania is one of those few planets where they've heard of humans, but none live there. So they get curious. Really curious. And you have to get out of there if someone identifies you. I mean…how should I put this? You wouldn't believe what kinds of things sentient beings could doto study creatures they've heard of but never actually researched before. That's kind of why I wear my Power Suit all the time, just to be safe. But now it'll be much harder to go back there and ask that Dialga to send you back home."

"Oooooh…I gotcha," I replied. Looks like I'll be here for a bit longer. Who knows? Maybe that was a good thing.

Meanwhile, both Big Amy and Chikorita started peppering Grovyle with questions at the same time:

"Grovyle, is that true?" asked Big Amy.

"She's a human? Really?" shouted Chikorita in disbelief.

"How do you know that?"

"What just happened back there with you and Celebi, anyway?"

"Did I look like that when I was a human? Did I? Did I?"

Grovyle couldn't take it anymore. "Okay, okay! Shut up and let me explain. First of all, yes, she's a human, it's true. Second of all, I know because I've been around seven of them including you when I was a Treecko, and you should've remembered that, 'cause I told you. Third of all, Celebi gets really clingy around me and I just can't stand it anymore. Finally, Amy, you did kinda look like that, but shorter. Now can **I **ask something? Okay! **Who the heck IS she?**" he shouted, pointing at me.

"Uuuuh...Amy?" I replied tentatively.

He didn't react wildly; instead, his eyes narrowed. "Amy? Really... " The way he started thinking hard made me cringe. He was almost as scary as Samus.

"It's—it's not the same as hers!" I quickly explained, pointing to Big Amy. "At least, I don't think." So I told him my full name.

"You have THREE names?" shouted Big Amy and Chikorita.

"Yeah! On Earth, there are loads of Amys running around, and even those with the same last name as me. So we have to have three names to minimize the chances of another person having the same name, but...I really hope one of them doesn't have the same middle name as me, too... "

"But I'm still Big Amy, and she's Little Amy! See?" announced Big Amy, bouncing back on my head. Apparently, she still hasn't forgotten our agreement thingy.

Grovyle stifled a laugh. "Even though she's way taller than you? How does that work out?"

"Be**cause**, I'm on her **head**, so I'm **tall**er! And besides, I'm tired of always being the little sister to you guys!"

"Uh...Yeah! What she said!" I conceded, feeling a bit weird. "I mean, I wanted to see what it was like to be called 'little' for once, 'cause no one ever called me that in my life—see, I was always the big sister, so...it kinda worked out, and..." I pointed to her on my head to see if I could make my point, but...

"Wow. Amy…that is so very, very you…*pfft!*…" He actually laughed for a bit. After he recovered, he turned to Samus and Adam. "I believe you two run this...starship, correct? What are your names?"

"Huh? What? Oh, you're talking to us." Samus thought it over for a few seconds. Then she rebuffed, "Sorry. That's classified. I'm the most famous bounty hunter in this galaxy, and the fewer enemies know about me, the better."

"Uh, yes. What she said," agreed Adam.

Even though I practically acted the same way in 6th and 7th grades as a result of watching too much Yu-gi-oh, I still had to restrain myself from blurting their names out loud to Grovyle. I thought he'd be a bit frustrated at the lack of trust, but instead, he just nodded his head and sympathized, "I understand. Telling our names too freely to too many Pokémon back in the dark future got us into heaps of trouble, what with Primal Dialga and his minions ambushing us everywhere we went. But our motto always was, 'There's no point in working together without trust.' How can we work together without trusting each other... and how can we trust each other if we don't even trust each other enough to tell us our names, classified or not?" Big Amy, Chikorita, and I just stared in stunned silence. I bet we were **all** amazed by his persuasion.

Luckily, Samus and Adam were convinced, too. Samus conceded, "Well, when you put it that way...I don't see why not. We only have two names, though. My name is Samus Aran, and this brain-in-a-computer here is Adam Malkovich."

"I'm still her superior officer!" interjected Adam.

"You can call me Samus. Nice to meet you, Mr...?"

"Grovyle. Just call me Grovyle."

"Interesting. I'm guessing you creatures are all one-namers?" inquired Samus.

"Us Pokémon, anyway. My name's Chikorita!"

"And I'm guessing you're called Big Amy, Puffball Girl?"

"Uh, yeah, but—"

At this point, Grovyle cut in, "Actually, she used to be a human, and her full name is Amy Vee Purima. Three names, like the human. Maybe you guys might know something about her."

Big Amy's, Chikorita's and my jaws all dropped. "How do you know THAT?"

"Just another thing you forgot when you lost your memories..." he sighed. He then looked around at us, one by one. "So here I am on Amy Vee Purima and Chikorita's outer space adventure. My two best friends there ever were."

"Awww...thanks!" they gushed.

"And I'm with a human with exactly the same first name...*sigh*..."

"Hey, I can't help it!" I complained.

"...a bounty hunter who's just as cautious as me..."

"Uh, cautious?" she asked, not quite agreeing with the adjective.

"...and a brain-in-a-computer with an attitude."

"Hey! Why don't you people ever understand that I have a name?"

Grovyle looked around at us one by one again. A realization came to him, and he groaned and slapped his forehead. "D'oh!"

"What? What is it?" we asked.

"I'm surrounded by girls. Again."

To be continued...

**Coming up next: Hang in there, Grovyle...at least you're not with Team Charm! Besides, we'll finally see what Capital Planet looks like, and have lots of fun! Huh. It says here that the chapter title is called: **F-I-R-D**. I wonder what it stands for?**


	4. FIRD

Chapter 4: F-I-R-D

"Hey! I resent that!" shouted Adam.

Grovyle merely looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"I'm a GUY!"

Awkward silence. Finally, Grovyle responded, as a matter-of-fact, "Uh, no you're not. You're a brain-in-a-computer who, by definition, is technically genderless."

"What are you talking about? I used to be a human too, you know! See? Let me prove it to you…"

A hologram from a projector in the ceiling lit up in front of us. It depicted a man in official Galactic Federation armor, and pop-up bios featuring information such as:

_Adam Malkovich  
Commanding Officer of the Galactic Federation's 7th Platoon  
Height: 7'1''. Weight: 162 lbs. Age: 57._

appeared around it. For a middle-aged man, he looked unusually handsome, like the kind of guy I guessed the girls at my school could swoon at the sight of…at least, if they were into guys like Edward Cullen. Or Brad Pitt, for that matter. Me? Meh. He looked pretty normal to me.

"...Oh," said Grovyle, examining the hologram closely. Chikorita burst out laughing on the spot, while Big Amy, me, and (I think) even Samus did our best to stifle our laughter. After we recovered, we examined the holograms too. Big Amy complained, "I can't read this!" referring to the letters in perfect English.

Chikorita blurted out, "What do you mean you used to be a human? I mean…how come you're in that machine in this ship now?"

"Oh, you know. Accident on the job, and BOOM, I'm toast. They transplanted my brain in this ship, and voila, I get to keep on living and boss you guys around." Something about the tone of his voice told me that he was deliberately withholding some of the exact details, but it might have been gory, so I didn't bother to ask.

Chikorita's face paled, and she stuttered, "Aaaauaaaagh! You're a—a g-g-g-g-g-g—g-g-GHOOOOST!" She sounded just like Chelinka from FFCC: Ring of Fates. Yikes. Right when it looked like she was going to faint, Grovyle caught her.

"I'm not a ghost, Chikorita. I'm just a so-called brain-in-a-computer who happens to be a former human! Two completely different things. In fact, ghosts don't exist. At least, none that I'm aware of."

With that matter settled, Big Amy suddenly remembered what she was going to say. "Now Grovyle, wait a second! Thanks to this stupid Cute Charm ability of mine, Chikorita and I are surrounded by GUYS all the time! And do **you** see us complaining?"

He just stared at her, trying to stifle a laugh. "Well...you are complaining **now**..."

"I'm serious! Lopunny said that's what would happen! Why didn't you tell me? I mean, if that's what being a Jigglypuff is all about, maybe I'd be better off turning back into a human, and—"

"Now Amy, don't be silly—"

At this point, Adam cut in, "Interesting. So you DO want to turn back into a human, don't you?"

"Yeah. Why?" replied Big Amy, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world—I mean universe—whatever.

"Give me a moment…"

The hologram disappeared, and the projector retracted into the ceiling. Another gadget emerged to take its place. Oddly enough, it extended low enough to reach Big Amy's level (as in, I was sitting down and she was sitting on my head.) It was a watch-shaped device wrapped around a placeholder cylinder. The watch was mostly black with white adornments, and a green face with a giant Roman numeral X laid on top of it…Wait a second here!

"The Omnitrix! What's it doing in here?" I gasped. It looked exactly like the one from the original Ben 10 TV show. Big Amy, Chikorita, and Grovyle all looked at me with disbelief etched all over their faces. Samus said, "The Omnitrix? What are you talking about? That's a DNA repair machine."

As if to prove her point, the device's face ran a scanning laser over Big Amy for about a second. It then said, "Genetic damage detected. Repair?"

Big Amy stared at the device and asked it, "What do you mean by 'repair'?"

Stifling a laugh, Adam explained, "That handy device came with this ship. It can detect whether your original DNA signature had been modified or not, **and** it can restore it back to normal. Want to try it?"

"I have no idea what you just said, but…okay!" agreed Big Amy enthusiastically.

Grovyle interrupted, "Now wait a second—!"

Several things happened at once. The Omnitrix-like device shot a beam of light at Big Amy, and she started to glow a really bright pink light, right when Grovyle failed to snatch her off my head and away from it. At that moment, I swore I heard someone say, "Ala-kablooie!" I vaguely remembered that line from the Houdini episode of Lilo and Stitch: The Series, but didn't have time to reflect on it, because the next thing I knew, something really heavy pressed into my shoulders, forcing me to come down hard. My forehead smacked right into the floor. "OW!" Then the heavy object fell off of me.

Chikorita gasped, "Little Amy! You okay—?" but then started screaming. (I imagine that Samus, Adam, and Grovyle were all stunned with silence.) Because my head was throbbing from the pain (luckily, I didn't get a concussion), for a second, I thought what I saw next was some sort of hallucination.

Sprawled on the floor against the clear cylindrical elevator was a girl about 10 years old or so. She had really long brown hair down to her waist, big bright green eyes, and pale skin. I mean, really pale. The gigantic red bow fell to the floor. She wore a ragged brown dress tied together with some sort of yellowish jacket, and her shoes were made of the same brown cloth, almost like part of a set. And what I really noticed was the mass of white "band-aid" dressing wrapped almost everywhere. There were lots around her shins all the way up to her knees and a little around both wrists. The outfit as a whole slightly resembled the one Kana Amara wore in another one of my fanfictions, The Heroes of Time—Hey wait a second!

"Big Amy?" I asked in disbelief.

"You're a human again. You're back!" gasped Grovyle, reeling from even more shock.

Samus and Adam were still speechless. Even Chikorita stopped screaming for a second.

"Wh—wha…?" She looked at her hands and shouted "AAAH!", as if they were alien appendages. Which, come to think about it, they probably were. At least to her. "Wha—what do you mean? How did—? WHOA!" She got up and tried to walk, but fell down almost immediately. Grovyle and I barely caught her in time. "This is so WEIRD! My arms and legs are way too long! H—how am I supposed to move?" she gasped.

"I'll help," I quickly volunteered.

Finally, Chikorita couldn't take it anymore. "Uuuugh…" She fainted, and this time, we couldn't catch her in time.

Samus seemed to finally snap out of it. "O**kay**…would someone please explain to me why the heck Puffball Girl—I mean, this 'Amy Vee Purima'—used to be a human?"

Grovyle perked up. "Certainly. It's a long story, though…"

"It'll take another hour to reach Capital Planet. We've got time," she replied.

Amy Purima tried to walk one more time, but lost her center of gravity all over again and fell on me. Hard. Obviously, I didn't know she could feel so heavy. "Ooow…" I groaned.

While Grovyle explained the intricacies of turning-into-a-Pokémon-via-protecting-one's-best-friend-from-a-deadly-energy-attack-while-traveling-through-time to Samus and Adam, I helped Amy Purima (now about 4'3" tall) learn how to walk without falling over. I found that as a Jigglypuff, her center of gravity was much lower, and had to teach her how to manage it now that it was higher. I took it in steps; first, she learned how to crawl; then, she used the wall to help stand up and walk, much like training wheels. Finally, by the end, she could walk across the whole room without my help, and by that time, Chikorita finally woke up.

"Interesting…I guess there are still things I don't understand at all," concluded Samus.

Adam announced, "We're here!" The ship shuddered, and the outside hyperspace disappeared into normal space. We could see…

"Hey, isn't that Earth?" I asked.

Samus explained, "Yes, but most people nowadays call it Capital Planet since the Galactic Federation is there."

In the next few minutes, Amy Purima, Chikorita, and I looked out the window and saw the planet below get closer and closer. Samus and Adam managed to get clearance to land, but it wasn't where we expected.

"Okay, we're going to drop you guys off here. Adam and I have to get back to the Galactic Federation, and it's against regulations for unauthorized personnel to enter headquarters. Here are 1,000 Federation credits for each of you. Have fun and get to know the place. Good luck," said Samus. She handed us some things that looked like debit cards. They were light-blue and had the number "1,000" printed on it.

"Wait! You're leaving us here?" I asked in shock and desperation.

"Don't worry, kid! The city has more than enough services for people to live here. You can learn to drive a spaceship, live on your own, get a job…thanks to the technological advances that extraterrestrials brought, even kids as young as 7 can live on their own. You'll be fine," she explained.

Adam coaxed, "Go on and take a look! This is Virginia in the future; not very far from where you used to live, kid. You'll like it."

The four of us piled into the elevator. "Well," said Adam, "nice knowing you guys. Most interesting group of civilians we've ever known. Hopefully you can find some way to get back to your own time. And if not…I'm sure you'll like the city. See you!"

The elevator lowered. We had no idea what to expect. When it stopped, we stepped off. The elevator retracted, and the ship rose and flew off into the distance. They didn't disappear into the atmosphere like I expected, but instead just flew farther off to a gigantic building in the distance. I guessed it was the Galactic Federation building. We waited for the smoke to clear. When it finally did…

I could not believe my eyes. Sprawling out in front of us really was the city—no, the metropolis—of my dreams. Buildings connected by enclosed walkways rose 100, 200, even 300 stories into the air. Aliens of all shapes, colors, and sizes walked, bounced, and flew all around. Everywhere we looked, there were holographic signs advertising various items that…who knew what they did. Flying vehicles, land machines of various sizes, Air Ride Machines, and more that I couldn't begin to comprehend traveled around the place, and there were thin roads for Air Ride Machines spiraling and twisting their way through the air. And everywhere we looked had a stunning, almost blinding golden sheen to them. We just stood there, rooted to the spot, taking it all in, totally astounded. I only had one thing to say, and I didn't care what Adam had said earlier.

"We are SO not in Virginia anymore."

* * *

_As they fly the ship back up, Samus finally relaxes in her chair and sighs in relief._

Samus: Finally...peace and quiet. (Just as it's supposed to be.)

_They ruminate over everything that happened since the previous mission. After about a minute or so, Adam finally speaks up._

Adam: ...Samus?

Samus: Yeah, Adam?

Adam: Somehow, I get a funny feeling that we're forgetting something...

Samus: You mean those kids? Eh. I know it hurts, but we shouldn't get too emotionally invested in a bunch of random civilians whom we're likely never see again.

Adam: (...You're just telling yourself that...aren't you?) I dunno, Samus. I just have this feeling—

Samus: Ignore it. We're not responsible for them anymore.

* * *

"WA-HOOOOO!" Amy Purima, Chikorita and I shouted. We charged right ahead, with Grovyle keeping pace with us. Everyone—that is, all the city-slicker aliens and people around us—just dropped everything they were doing and stared at us in disbelief. I bet we were acting just like people from third-world countries who see United States of America society for the first time. We practically were. Normally, the staring would really worry me, but Team Pecha's enthusiasm was just so contagious, I was able to let go of my inhibitions for the first time in a while. What surprised me even more was the fact that Amy Purima could suddenly run so fast. Okay, so she might've been a little unsteady, but she **never fell**. Not even once. Amazing. Anyway, we ran and ran and ran, just taking in the sights of the massive shiny futuristic city. Finally, we were so tired, we had to stop and catch our breaths. Except Grovyle, of course.

"Sheesh…" he grumbled. "You girls are such energy wasters. Do you even know where we should go?"

I complained, "Hey! I pace myself all the time, I swear! They're the energy wasters."

"What was that supposed to mean…?" accused Chikorita, glaring at me (or was it Grovyle?). Before anyone could say anything else, though, a blocky machine that was floating through the air finally caught up to us. I was really surprised; It was a robot from the seventh Pokémon movie, Destiny Deoxys. At the same time, I cringed. Was it trying to catch up to us the whole time?

Still hovering, it spoke, rather slowly, "Welcome to Gaijin City, capital city of Captial Planet, and home of the Galactic Federation headquarters! The name derives from the Japanese word _gaijin_, which means, 'foreigner', referring to the fact that this city, by far, has the greatest amount of biodiversity of all planets under Galactic Federation jurisdiction."

"Oh yeah, I knew that!" I exclaimed. After all, I just finished my third year of taking Japanese at my high school (well, more like secondary school, because I went there for middle school too). I knew that word and way more, not to mention increasingly complex sentence structures. But what really confused me was the fact that they'd use Japanese here at all. I mean, weren't there all these aliens running around us? Why not use a word from one of **their** languages? And biodiversity? Wasn't that a term from Environmental Science referring to organisms only? It sounded kind of weird being used for intelligent beings and such.

Amy Purima, Chikorita, and Grovyle just stared. "**Foreigner City?**" they asked, testing it out.

"It sounds better in Japanese. Almost like Chinese, too. Trust me," I explained.

Grovyle gave me that weird befuddled look again, but before he could say anything else, the robot cut in, "Please wait a moment as we take your picture. Smile!"

Not wanting to make the same mistake that May did, I flashed my best smile as the robot took my picture; a close up. Amy Purima, Chikorita, and Grovyle all followed my lead. When the robot was finished, it printed out passports with our pictures on them. "Please take your passports," it said, holding them out for us. We did.

"What are these for?" asked Grovyle.

"They will allow you to access our numerous facilities we provide. It also has a map you can refer to in case you get lost. Any questions?"

Chikorita piped up, "Yeah! What are you?"

"I am Unit 54-329, a Welcome Robot with the express purpose of guiding newcomers, providing information and services, and upholding justice and the public peace." It turned to me and asked, "How about you?"

I felt nervous. After all, I wasn't sure just how advanced its word comprehension system was; if it couldn't understand me, I was in trouble. I spoke as clearly as I could. "How is it that all these different…aliens…can live in the same place? It looks like they come from lots of different planets—and environments."

"There are several sections of Gaijin City with services for various species. Please wait a moment…" It scanned all four of us at once. "You two are humans…and you two are Pokémon. I can guide you to both sections. Want to come?"

"Sounds good to me!" I agreed.

So we followed Unit 54-329 all the way to the human section first. We hopped on (really fast!) moving conveyor belts, floating escalators, elevators, and all sorts of crazy transportation devices. It was insane. Luckily, the robot never left us behind.

Finally, we arrived in the general area. It was the automatic double-door entrance to a mega-mall that was at least 20 floors high, if not 40. The entrance ceiling stretched up to the 20th floor, giving us a view of a maze of escalators, elevators, airboard ramps, and more, spanning each of the floors, and we could barely begin to see the multitude of stores the lined the halls. We just stood there in awe for a good long while.

"Thanks, Mr. Robot!" said Amy Purima.

"Can you send Grovyle and Chikorita on ahead of us?" I asked.

"Sure thing, madams. If you have any questions, ask any of the nearby assistance robots. Have a nice day!" it said. Then it addressed Grovyle and Chikorita. "Now let me escort you two to the Pokémon section," and tried to drag them along, but Grovyle got jumpy.

"Wait, wait! You two are staying here? Why?" he asked.

"Don't worry, Grovyle. I've got this covered. I mean, who better to teach her to be a civilized human being than a civilized human being, you know what I mean?" I answered, pointing to myself. After all, I knew that she couldn't remember being a human at all, which could lead to some unfortunate consequences in a super-sophisticated society like this. I had to look after her, even if I knew barely anything about this time period myself. Some guidance was better than none.

I suppose he did, luckily. "But where should we meet?"

"Somewhere around here, I guess," I said.

The robot reassured us, "Do not worry. You can link with each other's passports to track where your group is at all times."

"How do we do that?" asked Chikorita.

The robot took our passport cards and electronically linked them. When it gave them back, we could see four blinking dots on the hologram maps that popped up from the hologram projector on the card. With that, it exited through the automatic doors and led Chikorita and Grovyle off to the Pokémon section. I was surprised there was actually a Pokémon section; I didn't think that those on Planet Portania had much in the way of interplanetary travel. After all, they seemed pretty shocked to see Samus' ship.

"Civilized?" she asked me, clearly not knowing the word.

"Yeah. See, just look. Everyone here looks so shiny and futuristic and stuff, and look at you! You look like you've just come out of a jungle or something. We're going to have to—"

"But playing in jungles is fun!" As if to prove her point, she climbed up to a higher elevation platform of some sort and jumped. She landed on me, hooking her legs around my shoulders. "OW!" I shouted, crashing down facedown onto the ground. "Owowowowow! GET OFF ME!" I barely gritted out.

"AAAH! Sorry! H—how come it doesn't work anymore?" She immediately jumped off.

I groaned, sat back up, and dusted myself off. "Two reasons. First, you're a lot heavier now. I'm guessing 75 pounds. When you were a Jigglypuff, you were only 12 pounds."

"Oh, oops. What's the second reason?"

"You were fluffy, so at the time, 12 pounds felt like nothing at all. I mean, you were REALLY fluffy. Now…not so much."

"Aww, man! …Well...I guess I can do a better Body Slam now!"

We laughed for a bit before finally composing ourselves and standing back up. I glanced in the security camera video above the sliding-door entrance and noticed that we sort of looked like sisters. In fact, if you changed her eye color from bright green to brown (my eye color) and cut her exceedingly long hair down to shoulder-length, she would look exactly the same as I did when I was 10 years old. Yikes. I didn't know if that was creepy or awesome, but I didn't care. I had a job to do. With that, we started walking.

"Well, I guess I could teach you on my own, but…to tell you the truth, I'm not even sure where to begin…" I trailed off as a bookstore caught my eye. "Hang on…let's go in here first!"

"Okay…?"

It was quiet, just as it was supposed to be. But what really amazed me was the staggering selection of the place. Not only were there books on bookshelves 20 feet high, but there were also music CDs, iPod centers, movies that looked way more advanced than Blu-ray, and various medias I couldn't even begin to comprehend. What really captured my attention was the vast selection of what I believed to be e-books. I mean, these chips were tiny. According to the visualized instructions, it looked like you could press one down onto your passport card and wirelessly connect the information from the book to your card. This was useful if someone (like Amy Purima) couldn't read, as the card could play an audio recording of what page you opened the book to at the time. All this was possible only after you purchased it and had the protective covering removed, of course. I decided to use the nearby computer search engine and typed in, "How to Be Civilized."

"What are you doing?" she asked, a bit loud for the place.

"Shh! Be quiet! People are reading! I'm just going to check to see if they made a book on the subject," I said, putting a finger to my lips. If it weren't for the faint out-of-this-world music coming from the ceiling speakers, I could swear that sound carried in this place. Then the search engine displayed the results.

What do you know? They DID make a book with that exact title. And not just that; a hologram movie-type book at that, too.

As much as I would've liked to check out the manga section, I decided that the sooner I helped teach Amy Vee Purima to not make a fool of herself in this futuristic society, the better. After all, she looked like one of those stereotypical poor people dressed in supposedly filthy-looking rags in the midst of all these bling-bling rich-looking people with futuristic outfits that I couldn't even begin to describe. I mean, everyone was staring. As quickly as I could, I found two chips and a hard copy of the book itself, went up to the register, purchased them with my Galactic Federation Credits debit card, and got out of there, all while trying to obscure her from view. Heck, even **I** looked on the poor side compared to them.

I pressed the chips in each of our passport cards. It finished downloading after only a couple seconds. We turned to face the entire mall, opened the hard copy of the book, and with our cards ready to voice out the text from the book, we began.

* * *

_Samus and Adam fly to the building that dominates the metropolis in the center of it all—the Galactic Federation headquarters. As they approach, they receive a radio transmission from the building._

Radio voice: Unidentified vessel, please transmit your identification. We are standing by.

_She brings down the official circular panel with buttons that have special runes on them used for identification purposes, and types in the correct sequence._

Radio voice: Identification received. Welcome back, Samus. You are cleared for landing on parking deck 153-B-49. Have a nice day.

_The radio turns off, and they park on the labeled deck in the corresponding section on the 153rd floor. Samus makes sure to connect the ship to the Galactic Federation's computer network so Adam can link with her remotely via any computer in the building. She then exits the ship and proceeds down the corridors she knows only too well. She reaches the mission advisor person, who has just finished typing information in on his giant monitor._

Mission advisor guy: Well done, Samus. We've confirmed that you successfully blew up the Space Pirate hideout on Planet XL-4KY's second moon. As such, here is your payment.

Samus: Thanks. Sorry I'm late.

_He hands her 5,000 Federation credits as a reward for a job well done. Suddenly, a voice emits from the P.A. system._

Voice on P.A.: Samus Aran, please come to Commander Tierney's office. I repeat, Samus Aran, please come to Commander Tierney's office.

Samus: What could he want…?

Mission advisor guy: I dunno. Must be big. Find out and see.

_She takes the high-speed elevator up to the 360th floor (there are 500 floors in total) and follows the corridors down to the guy's office. She enters through the automatic doors. Sitting at the desk in the enclosed room is Commander Tierney, a balding, 72-year-old man wearing an authoritative commander uniform. His eyes are sharp, and there's an undeniable gravitas to his being. Just his presence alone would be enough to really intimidate Team Pecha and me, but Samus is already used to dealing with powerful figures like him._

Commander Tierney (sternly): Sit down, Samus.

_Samus detects a harder edge to his voice than usual and suddenly gets a little nervous. She sits down on the chair in front of his desk._

Commander Tierney: I'm not happy, Samus. NOT…HAPPY. Ask me why.

Samus: Why?

Commander Tierney: Why what? Be more specific, Samus.

Samus: Why are you unhappy?

Commander Tierney: I'll tell you why I'm unhappy. Your performance lately has become unacceptable. And considering that you're the finest bounty hunter we've ever had, that's saying something.

Samus: Unacceptable? But that mission I just completed, I—

_He stands up and slams a pile of papers down in front of her on his desk. They're mission reports, with photos, too._

Commander Tierney: Mission number 35-44! We expected you to wipe out every last Metroid on Planet SR-388! But what did you do? You let one survive.

Samus: But it turned out to be a good thing that I—

Commander Tierney: Mission number 35-45! We expected you to rescue the last Metroid in the universe from the Space Pirates and bring it back alive! But what did you do? You let Mother Brain kill it.

_That accusation cuts Samus to the core emotionally, but she doesn't let it show just how badly._

Samus (subdued): It was…out of my hands…

Commander Tierney: Mission number 35-80! We expected you to provide bodyguard services for our troops monitoring the environment of Planet SR-388. But what did you do? You let the X Parasites infect you, almost died, and nearly gave our medical technicians a heart attack trying to save your lousy hide.

Samus: (Wasn't that part of the mission, technically speaking? They did emerge as a result of the absence of Metroids. We know that now. So how was that a failure?)

Commander Tierney: Mission number 35-81! We expected you to exterminate every last X Parasite from the Biologic Space Labs research station! But what did you do? You not only failed, you entered the Restricted Zone, defied Galactic Federation orders to stay where you were, and co-conspirated with Adam Malkovich to crash the station into SR-388 below! Personally, I think that it's amazing that High Command let you back in at all.

Samus: Are you finished?

Commander Tierney: Not by a long shot. Mission number 35-82! We expected you to blow up the Space Pirates' hideout on Planet XL-4KY's second moon! Well…you did. But what else did you do?

Samus (paleing): What do you mean?

Commander Tierney: We've received intelligence that right afterwards, you made several detours to planets not part of the mission plan. And on those planets, you brought along some...**stowaways.** Furthermore, you dropped those stowaways right into the heart of Gaijin City.

Samus (getting nervous): And…? How did you come across this information?

Commander Tierney: I have my sources. Anyway, we have reason to believe that of the four stowaways you've picked up, no less than two of them emit unknown, latent, but exceedingly powerful energy particles.

Samus: H—how?

Commander Tierney: I fail to comprehend why a bounty hunter of your caliber would neglect to run a simple sterilization scan on each and every living being you bring into your ship. Perhaps you'd like to expose our civilians to deadly pandemics? High Command may turn a blind eye, but I simply cannot and will not continue to ignore your failures. Therefore, I am forced to hire replacements for you.

Samus (standing up): What do you mean?

Commander Tierney (also standing up, turning his head to the wall behind him): Tell her, boys.

_The automatic doors to the left and right sides on the wall behind Commander Tierney open up to reveal…two Space Pirates, one from each door, coming out. The one on the left is taller and thinner, while the right one is shorter and fatter, but they're both rather disgusting and insect-like, complete with cyborg armor. They chuckle evilly as they swagger in._

Samus: *gasp*! Space Pirates! (What are THEY doing here?)

_She instantly blasts them with the strongest power beams she can, but a force field suddenly materializes in front of them and bounces the beams back right onto her, knocking her down and taking out a significant chunk of her energy meter. They start laughing._

Zark (the left guy): LOL Whoa-ho! U sayin' **dis** iz teh uber-l33t bounty hunter dat totlly pwned Mother Brain?

Zork (the right guy): She don't look too l33t 2 me.

Commander Tierney: Samus Aran, I would like you to meet our newest bounty hunters, Zark and Zork. They will be your replacements.

Zork: Dat meens u jst got fired. F-I-R-D. ROFL LOL!

Samus (outraged): Wh—what are you doing? High Command never approved of this!

Commander Tierney: They have now.

Samus: I mean, Regulation 34.019 expressly prohibits enemies of the Galactic Federation from serving in—

Commander Tierney: Exactly. **Enemies.** But as of now, Space Pirates are no longer considered enemies anymore. That means that these fine gentlemen have the full protection of the Galactic Federation. And remember regulation 62.102? "The bodily harm of Galactic Federation employees and their respective affiliates is prohibited. Violators will receive a 10-day suspension and a recommendation for jail time."

Zark: Ooo...BURN!

Samus: I—I don't understand…I thought the Space Pirates were the Galactic Federation's #1 enemy…

Commander Tierney: They used to be. So did the Metroids. But guess what? We found that Metroids could be used for good, too. Only a certain **someone** let them go extinct…

Zark: He meens U, fool.

Zork: & dat's Y yer fired! F-I-R-D! U c?

Commander Tierney: These boys' first mission will be to correct the mess that you made. As of now, Samus Aran, your employment with us is terminated!

Samus: NO!

Commander Tierney: Of course, if you want to even have a chance at being hired again, I suggest you find your little stowaways and take them back to where they came from…before these boys do!

Zark: Better turn on dat Speed Booster of yer's!

Zork: Yeh, dat's right! We can totlly pwn & haxor dem n00bs faster den any l33t Space Pirate ever did.

Samus (crushed): This can't be happening…!

Zark: Is no nightmare, Sa-moose! Feel dis?

_He shoots several laser beams at her, and Zork follows suit. Several of them land, and some of them are painful headshots. Samus is forced to flee from the room, with the meanie-butts' callous laughter in hot pursuit after her. (She can hear Zork say, "Sa-moose? Dat's a good 1! LOL!") After she escapes to safety in the elevator, Adam appears on the monitor in the elevator._

Adam: Samus! Samus, what's wrong? What just happened?

Samus: Adam…you—you're never…going to believe this…

_Back in Commander Tierney's room, the three of them look at each other and grin evilly._

Commander Tierney: Good job, boys! We finally pwned teh has-been-famous-but-now-n00bish-accursed-bounty-hunter Samus Aran!

Zark and Zork: WOOT! WOOT! WOOT! WOOT!

All three: Muahahahahahahaha!

_They continue laughing evilly. Meanwhile, behind them, there's a hidden room that only they know about. Inside the cramped chamber is a balding, 72-year-old man with his arms and legs in magnetic chains. He's lying on the ground, banging the wall with his head, and shouting. Wait a second…!_

The real (!) Commander Tierney: Let me out! Let me out, you Space Pirate sons of a #?$!%! &!#?* it! *sigh*…How'd I get into this &%?$? "Constant vigilance" my $#!&, like that really helped! *%$#!

_Sheesh…__**Language**__. Foulmouthed guy. They really should've muffled his mouth, too. But still! If that's the real Commander Tierney…then who the heck was that?_

To be continued…

**Coming up next: Who the heck WAS that, indeed. Too bad we didn't even know that was going on at the moment. But still! MORE meanie-butts? What's up with them? Guess we'll have to be on the lookout. Anyway, we've got other issues to worry about at the moment, such as finding our way around a confusing futuristic city! And since Samus is skipping out on this kind of job (she'd really do a lot better since she was raised by the Chozo all by herself), I guess it's up to me to teach Tarzan Girl—I mean, Amy Vee Purima the exciting art of…**How to Be Civilized**.**


	5. How to Be Civilized

**Greetings. My name is Bob Smith Taro Yamada Supercali_fragilistic_expealidocious, the 7th, last, and only…Ph.d. (And that's just the short version!)**

**Hi! My name is…Kate!**

**And no matter where you come from, no matter how stupid you are, we can teach you…**

Chapter 5: How to Be Civilized

The two of us just stared at the virtual people on our passport cards, sitting at a virtual table on virtual floating chairs sipping virtual tea. To be honest, I couldn't tell whether they were more futuristic or British in their formal attire.

"And now time for Lesson 1," began Bob. "How to dress with STYLE!"

Big Amy blinked. "Wait…what…why?"

"FOOL!" shouted Kate, almost knocking us over in surprise. "What do you think you're doing walking around in civilized society in THAT? And that hair—yeesh—don't you know what a hairbrush is?" Then she turned to me and added, "You're not off the hook, either—I mean, what are you doing? Cosplaying as someone from the early 21st century? A really unstylish one, too."

I was stunned. What kind of technology was this? It was one thing being able to identify what we were wearing; it was something completely different to offer such obnoxious opinions on it. I wondered who programmed this thing in the first place.

"Do you want the fashion police and gossip magazines to come down on your—?"

"No!" I shouted.

"Then get up to A1-C17 on the 22nd floor! STAT!"

The complexity of Bob and Kate's AI programming—the fact that they could actually respond as well as the Welcome Robot to our comments, and what's more, have an attitude about it—scared me more than ever at this point. Good thing they actually let us use the 3-D hologram map to let us find the so-called makeover store. When we arrived at the spot on the map, we found that A1-C17 was a combination of a barber shop and a clothing store (with the barber shop being squished over to one side).

I didn't plan on getting a haircut, but Kate demanded that we go to the barber shop first. My hair was short enough as it was compared to most of the girls in my school. While they had hair halfway down their backs, I was forced to keep mine just touching my shoulders, because I tried having long hair once. It was too thick. Not very pretty. So I was extremely surprised when the hairdresser guy asked me whether I wanted a haircut…or a hair lengthening.

"What?" I exclaimed. "You can make my hair longer? How?"

He explained the process to me, but I couldn't really follow along with what he was saying. It looked harmless, though, so I agreed for him to lengthen mine to halfway down my back, partly due to Kate's urging, and partly because I was curious to see what it would look like. Amy Purima wanted a haircut to the exact same length that I was lengthening mine to, but she also wanted a change in hair color from brown…to pink. I smiled.

"You like the color pink, too?" I asked.

"Yeah! Wait…you do too?"

"Yeah!"

"So why are you leaving your hair brown?"

"I'd rather wear a pink outfit instead. Brown hair goes well with them."

The procedure was much quicker than I expected. Thankfully, Bob and Kate kept their mouths shut and went into sleep mode the whole time. After we sat down in the chairs, the hair shampoo and wash step only took about 30 seconds. The hairdresser guy expertly trimmed Amy Purima's hair to the right length, but was collecting it in some sort of container instead of letting it fall on the ground. Then he applied the pink color to her hair and let the spray soak for a while. Meanwhile, he turned to me for my hair-lengthening procedure. Now here's the wackiest part; though I couldn't see it very well, I'm pretty sure that he actually used Amy Purima's hair and attached it to mine!

I'm not sure what kind of crazy technology allowed it to happen, but whatever it was, it successfully fused the extra hair to mine with absolutely no visible seams. And best of all? It wasn't puffy or annoying at all! (Edit: I later found out that it was an actual procedure they could do back on Earth, minus the hair fusion part.) Finally, we were done, and we were back at the register.

"Okay, so the total cost comes to…1,000 dollars," he said.

My jaw dropped. "A THOUSAND dollars?" I shouted.

"FOOL!" shouted Bob, who apparently couldn't keep his mouth shut any longer. "How much did you think it would cost?"

"I thought haircuts were only supposed to be 40 dollars on average! Well, maybe that lengthening was worth 100, but…"

"FOOL! What are you from, from the 21st century? Well, that IS how much they used to cost, but…"

"Ooooooooh…" I said, smacking my face as it finally occurred to me. "Inflation."

"Bob, it's okay," said the hairdresser guy. Then to me, "Don't worry. We accept Galactic Federation credits, too. That'll be only 50 credits total."

(Pheeeeeewwee!)

After thanking him, we arrived at the clothing store. I was absolutely stunned. Normally, I hated all clothing stores with a passion (except for Khols, from which I bought my current outfit), mostly because they never carried anything I liked. I mean, come on! What's the point of wearing clothes if it exposes your midriff, or worse? But this store? Sure, there were outfits like that, but what really blew me away was the sheer variety of clothes to choose from. And the best part was the machine in the store's center; you could actually design your own clothes and create it within minutes!

Amy was totally stunned. "Wha—which one should I choose?" she wailed. Poor girl. She must've been suffering from sensory overload, or as she'd put it, she'd say that her brain was about to explode.

Right when it looked like she was in danger of fainting, I reassured her, "Don't worry. I'll give you suggestions. I have way more experience knowing what looks good on different people."

"FOOLS! This is where you need the help of a trained pro." Kate suddenly popped back up. In fact, there was two of her now; one on each of our cards. I rubbed my temples and groaned. This was going to be such a hassle…

Kate guided her to the 10-year-old section, while she steered me to the 18-year-old section. What do you know? They actually had shirts very much like mine, but in all sorts of colors combinations. I picked the one I liked; one that was mostly pink, but with a stripe of white, too. It had short sleeves that hung to my elbows, and I found a pair of shorts that looked like mine, but red instead of black. Finally, I picked out shoes that were pretty much the same as my original shoes, but had upgraded comfort levels, airflow, traction, and resistance to friction. Kate grumbled loudly about all of these choices. Even the shoes. **Especially** the shoes. She was just like my mom, but 100 times worse.

Meanwhile, Amy was having much more trouble. She still couldn't decide which one to pick. When I caught up to her, I suggested, "Why don't we try out that Make-Your-Own outfit machine over there?"

"Why? I don't know how to work that thing!"

"I've got an idea. Let me try it."

It was actually a lot easier to work than I thought it would be. The procedure consisted of scanning in one's body type (in this case, Amy's) and then using the design palette based off of it. She just watched in amazement as I recreated a design I drew for a character I made a while ago. After I finished, the machine churned out the exact outfit made from cotton, just as I specified.

"Why is it all green and blue-green and black?" she asked.

"Trust me. It'll match your hair."

I showed her stuff like how to go into the changing rooms and try the outfit on to see if it fitted. It did, perfectly, but…since she had no idea how clothes worked, I had to help her out. A lot. It was…interesting. Luckily, the outfit I chose also fit me. By the end, she wore blue and green gloves, a blue and black sleeveless shirt, green skorts, long knee-length white socks, and blackish boot shoes. I was impressed. All of the band-aid dressings were tastefully covered over, except maybe for a sliver around the wrists. Finally, we happened to find a hat with Jigglypuff ears and hair that fit her perfectly with her red bow tied in the back.

"Wow! This is sooooo cute! You're GOOD at this, Little Amy!"

"Thanks! I never thought I'd actually get a chance to do this." I was glad that even Kate had to admit that I wasn't a complete fashion dunce. Of course, it was right then that I had to tell Amy that we had to put all the new outfits in the shopping bags and purchase them **before** we wore them.

Kate went on and on about matching accessories, but personally, I didn't want to have anything to do with earrings, bracelets, piercings, tattoos, watches…well, okay, I traded in my old watch for a more up-to-date one, but to Kate, it pretty much looked exactly the same as before.

"Eh, if you insist, I suppose you two will do for now. Anyway, we have nine more lessons to go."

My jaw dropped. "All that was just Lesson 1?"

* * *

_Grovyle and Chikorita are traveling through the massive mega-mall for Pokémon. Chikorita oohs and aahs at the 50 or so floors reminiscent of a mystery dungeon, except for the fact that it doesn't change shape and is much more safe; no one really attacks them. Grovyle just scrutinizes the map really closely, trying to memorize his way around._

Chikorita: Hey Grovyle! Where should we go first? Where where where?

Grovyle: Hang on, Chikorita, I'm working on it—

Chikorita: How about the aquarium floor?

Grovyle: Uh, I can't swim in all that water, and I don't think you can, either.

Chikorita: What about the fighting arena—oh wait.

Grovyle: Pass. I've got enough fighting from that dark future to last a lifetime.

Chikorita: The jungle area…?

Grovyle: Hmm…**Now **you're talking…

_They pass several shops, all selling berries, held items for battle, power items (such as the Power Anklet) for training, orbs, etc. Chikorita pulls Grovyle over to the one selling items for outer space travel. A confident Kirlia and a disorganized Mawile run the shop._

Chikorita: Grovyle! Look, look! Can we get something? Can we? Can we?

Grovyle: Hey…this looks interesting.

Kirlia: Welcome to the Official Space Travel Shop! …Uh…

_She looks around and finds that Mawile is still unloading merchandise._

Kirlia: Hey MAWILE, that was your line! Get back here! We've got CUSTOMERS!

Mawile: Huh? AAAH! Sorry! Sorry!

_He runs right up to the counter next to Kirlia and bows to Chikorita and Grovyle, apologizing profusely._

Mawile: I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry—

Kirlia: Quit apologizing and help out our customers here! NOW!

Chikorita and Grovyle (intimidated): (Dang…she's scary…)

Mawile: Right, right! Uh…uh…How can I help you?

Chikorita: Huh? Oh, just looking! Let's see…

Grovyle: Were these items what allowed Pokémon to travel through space?

Mawile: Yes sir. This Oxygen Orb was a revolutionary breakthrough that allowed Pokémon to survive in the harsh environment of outer space, and…

_Mawile continues to give Grovyle a run-down on all the basic essential items of his shop. Chikorita notices the freeze-dried food, the orbs, and most especially, the miniaturized spaceships. She points to one, and Kirlia is quick to explain so Mawile can continue to focus on his explanation Grovyle._

Chikorita: What about those?

Kirlia: Oh, sorry about that, miss. You need an official spaceship driver's license to purchase one of those.

Grovyle: Interesting… (Note to self…)

_While Grovyle picks out a couple orbs and freeze-dried foods, Chikorita grabs a whole mess of them._

Grovyle: For me, these will do.

Chikorita: I wanna buy all of these!

Kirlia: Excellent choices. Don't worry. We accept both Poké as well as Galactic Federation Credits.

_They hand over their passport cards to complete the transaction. Chikorita stuffs all the goods into the Treasure Bag and runs ahead, eager to buy more from the shops._

Chikorita: Grovyle! C'mon! Let's go! Let's go!

Grovyle: I'm coming! Calm down already! *sheesh*…

Kirlia: Haha! Try not to let your little cousin wear you down, okay, sir?

Grovyle: Excuse me? ("Little cousin"?)

Kirlia: Just kidding. Have a nice day!

_She turns around and sees that Mawile is trying to pocket some of the stuff for himself._

Kirlia: MAWILE! Get back to work!

Mawile: Y—yes ma'am!

Grovyle: Easy, easy…

Kirlia: Oh, don't mind him! This is his first part-time job—I need to make sure he gets this stuff right.

Grovyle: Okay…? (Suuure…)

_He groans and continues on, hoping he can keep up with Chikorita all the way._

* * *

"Lesson 2! Mind the signs!"

"Lesson 4! Drive Ferraris and eat caviar!"

"Lesson 7! 1,000 rules of etiquette!"

To be honest, the rest of the lessons went by in a blur, so even I wasn't sure whether those were the real titles or not. They just sounded like that to me. It didn't help that they kept being really obnoxious by calling us fools every so often. But after all those lessons, after all those tiresome training sessions, there was the one that made us both snap.

"Lesson 10! Asserting your domination over such creatures as dogs, cats, hamsters, and Pokémon!"

We perked up, shocked, from where we were, lying on the unusually sterilized floor of the mega mall. "…What? Pokémon?"

"FOOLS!" said Bob. "Everyone knows that civilized people carry Pokémon in Poké Balls and use them to win tournaments for loads of money. Like so!" He conjured up a Poké Ball hologram and threw it in Kate's general direction. It released a beam of white light that materialized into a Pikachu hologram. Then he shouted, "Pikachu, return!" and the Poké Ball shot a beam of red light that dragged the Pikachu back in.

Now I've seen this sort of thing all the time on the Pokémon TV show back at home and was used to it. But this was the first time in my life when I considered it from the point of view of the Pokémon themselves. Not the Pokémon from the show, mind you. But the Pokémon from the Mystery Dungeon games, the ones with their own societies, ways of life, hopes, and dreams, just like people. Just like Grovyle and Chikorita (and Dusknoir and Celebi and all the others back there). Just like…Big Amy.

I was appalled.

And so was she. "People actually…DO that?"

"FOOLS!" Bob replied. "You think it's physically possible 40-foot-tall Wailord to just follow you around? Didn't think so! First of all, it's too big, even for places like these. Second of all, you'd need a lot of water for it to swim around in, or a really expensive levitation device. No, it's much more convenient to carry them around. I mean, come on! Pokémon is short for Pocket Monsters. How do you think Pocket Monsters got their name?" He pointed to the Poké Ball in his pants pocket for emphasis.

This must've been really awkward. And crushing at the same time. I knew for a fact that Satoshi Tajiri, the creator of the Pokémon franchise back in Japan or somewhere, came up with that name for the original Game Boy game revolving around the very aspects of catching, trading, and battling with them. And yet…I asked Bob and Kate, "You know…there's a whole planet of them that we've just been to…so why—?"

"Oh, you mean Planet Portania?" interrupted Kate. "That's where the smart ones keep coming from. The ones here are quite okay with it. But getting back to the subject, there's a Poké Ball store you should go to—"

"No," said Big Amy, flatly. "I'm not going there."

I quickly added, "Me neither. In fact, now that I think about it—"

"FOOLS!" shouted Kate. "You won't count as being civilized if you—"

"As I was SAYING…Now that I think about it, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you guys are trying to get us to blow away all our money."

* * *

_After the meal, they check out the rest of the place, though Grovyle continues to be befuddled by the fact that Pokémon continue to have "pointless" fighting competitions. After a while, Grovyle pulls out his passport card to check on the two Amys—and sees that they're both exiting the human building._

Grovyle: Chikorita. They're done.

Chikorita: AWWW…! Already?

Grovyle: That's right. They agreed to meet us out there. Let's go.

Chikorita: Fine, fine… (Oooo…I sure hope **my** Amy had lots of fun reading minds!)

_They exit the Pokémon building, and the Welcome Robot guides them to the fastest mode of transportation to get to the human building—a "skateboard" on rails. They both hop on and steer it like a surfboard._

Chikorita: WA-HOOOO!

Grovyle: Chikorita—have you—rode this—thing before? WHOA!

Chikorita: Not exactly! But remember when you made us look for the Hidden Land back then? **Our** Amy and I made a surfboard out of leaves and paddled it across the sea! Or at least we tried. It didn't work thank to that invisible shield. We still surf now and again!

Grovyle: I see—GAH! Careful, there…

_Chikorita expertly steers the device in the front while Grovyle just hangs on for dear life in the back. But when they reach their destination…_

Chikorita: AAAH! End of the line! End of the line!

Grovyle: Chikorita! Stop this thing!

Chikorita: I-I can't! I don't know how!

Grovyle: WHAT?

_The board slams into the endpost, and the resulting momentum launches them into the air._

Chikorita and Grovyle: AAAAAAAAAAAAH!

_They crash into the ground._

Chikorita and Grovyle: Ooooww…

Grovyle: You **really** gotta learn how to stop…

Chikorita: I'm working on it…I swear…

_They dust themselves off and stand up. In front of them is a really weird sight. Two girls are jumping up and down, crushing some sort of book on the ground. One of them looks like she should be __**their**__ Amy, but her hair is suddenly pink and shorter, she's wearing a Jigglypuff hat, and her outfit is completely different. The shock baffles Grovyle so much that he completely forgets what he was going to ask the __**other**__ Amy._

Grovyle (completely stunned): Uuuh…that IS you, right, Amy?

* * *

Outside the mega-mall, we threw both the hard copy of the obnoxious book and the obnoxious videochip down on the ground and took turns stomping it over and over again, completely decimating the hologram projections of Bob and Kate. We must've looked pretty silly, jumping and crushing some innocuous-looking objects in the middle of the walkway, and it might have been a bad idea given the advanced level of AI programming in there, but we were too incensed to care. I didn't want to hear anyone else shouting "FOOLS!" at us ever again.

"Who programmed this obnoxious thing?" I fumed.

"Whaddya MEAN people are superior to Pokémon? I can't use my moves anymore! I'm not even as strong as I used to be! Huh? HUH?"

Of course, it was just at that moment that Chikorita and Grovyle came back from the Pokémon section to see us acting like a pair of madwomen. Or toddlers throwing a temper tantrum, for that matter. "Uuuh…that IS you, right, Amy?" asked Grovyle.

We turned around and froze. There they were.

She responded, "Yeah! You never told me humans were supposed to stick Pokémon in those—those—!"

"AH! Grovyle! It—it's not what it looks like…" I stammered. "I mean, what were you guys doing?"

Chikorita responded, "It was AWESOME! There were all these Pokémon I've never ever seen before! There were all these jungles we could play in, places to battle, and food, food, FOOD! I loved it! What did you guys do? Did you get to read minds? Did ya?"

"Are you kidding me? I want to be a Jigglypuff again so I can prove that not all Pokémon deserve to be treated that way! I'll show them!"

I gulped. "Yeah, slight problem…I don't know if you can. That Omnitrix thingy fixed your genetic damage, so I don't know if it's possible to un-fix it—"

"I DON'T CARE! I WANT TO BE A JIGGLYPUFF AGAIN! NOW!"

A bright flash of pinkish light erupted from her, nearly blinding me, lasting for about a couple of seconds. When it faded away, I gasped. So did Chikorita and Grovyle.

"What?" she asked, before realizing they looked much taller than usual. She then looked down at herself and exclaimed, "Hey, it worked!" exhaling in relief.

"Aww…I wanted to do that too!" I complained. I then sighed, "There goes all my hard work…" After all, now no one will be able to see that cute outfit that I worked so hard to design anymore. The only thing that still showed was the red bow tied to her back, of course.

"See? I told you, Amy. You look better as a Jigglypuff," said Grovyle.

"Yeah, Amy, I'm more used to you this way," said Chikorita.

"Hey guys! You're forgetting something!" she said. She climbed up Grovyle and used his head as a springboard to bounce onto my head. "I'm still Big Amy!"

We laughed. She really did feel fluffy! Oh well. If she liked herself the way she was, that's fine with me! I mean, at least she could turn into a Jigglypuff again, but me? I was still stuck as myself. Well…I guess, when I really thought about it, I was better off appreciating the way I was. (Of course, I had longer hair, but overall, I didn't change much despite Kate's protests.)

One thing was for sure, though. Obnoxious instructors or no obnoxious instructors, I never wanted to do that again!

**Coming up next: Well…that was completely worthless. Maybe I'll have better luck teaching my friends to **Sweep the City! **…But then again, maybe not. All I know is that someone's gotta do it to keep the city clean. Probably some invisible janitors. I dunno. Anyway, find out how the rest of our first day in Gaijin City went, and how we built our first secret base! I can't wait; I've loved secret bases ever since I made my own in Pokémon Ruby!**


	6. Sweep the City!

Chapter 6: Sweep the City!

For the rest of the afternoon, we played around in the interspecies sections of Gaijin City. We played in the water park (I had to buy another blue one-piece swimsuit and goggles and a pair of water shoes, obviously), the jungle gyms, the different modes of transportation, and even in the arcades. See, although they had Dance Dance Revolution, it was extremely advanced. Instead of just four ground arrows, the whole booth was motion sensitive. It tracked arm and body movements in addition to the legs. As a result, it took a long time to really get the hang of the system, but once we did, we enjoyed every minute of it. We had so much fun! Whenever Grovyle and Chikorita wanted to do something I felt I wasn't ready for yet (like roller coasters and bungee jumping), I went shopping for things such as an actual spacesuit.

I found one that looked like Colette's outfit from Tales of Symphonia for the outside layer, only the blue lines were pink instead. Underneath, I found a sleek black jumpsuit that was impervious to extreme temperatures from -350 to 1 million degrees Fahrenheit. To my delight, they also invented things called membrane helmets that automatically shaped themselves according to your head shape, yet also provided oxygen for breathing. Finally, they said that the suit as a whole provided all life-support services (yes, I mean ALL services). I was sold. It was relatively expensive (about 150 credits), but it was totally worth it. After all, they said that a spacesuit was a requirement if I wanted to learn how to drive a spaceship.

Oddly enough, the longer the day went on, the more we found that Big Amy and I had exactly the same interests. We went to see the latest "4-D" full-sensory sci-fi comedy movie (we didn't know whether it was more hilarious, awe-inspiring, or just plain mind-blowing), browsed the bookstore a bit more, and admired galleries of the most current 2-D and 3-D art. I even found that she was left-handed like me! Soon enough, we couldn't ignore our stomachs anymore and met with Chikorita and Grovyle again to decide which restaurant we wanted to eat dinner at. Of course, I had to explain the concept of restaurants to them first.

We sat at a table located 50 stories in the air somewhere in between our two mega-malls. I ate my favorite meal, while they ate a multitude of berries, half of which I had no idea what they were. But yes, it consisted of mostly Pecha Berries and Apples. While we ate, we had time to discuss things. That is, just Grovyle and me. Big Amy and Chikorita decided to swing around on the ceiling beams, playing with the other alien children. Jeez, didn't they know they could upset their stomachs that way? Oh well. Maybe Pokémon weren't affected by that kind of thing. Maybe. I wasn't really sure.

"So Samus was serious when she said she'd just leave us here permanently?" asked Grovyle.

"That's what I assume," I replied.

"Hmm…" He started thinking. "If that's the case…then we're going to have to learn how to drive a spaceship. Think we'll go here after dinner?" he asked, pointing to the location on the hologram map from his passport.

"I don't know…I had to drive supervised for 45 hours before they let me get a driver's license. And that was for a car!" He looked at me, confused. "That is, a land-based vehicle common to Earth in the past," I explained. "What I mean to say is, since a spaceship is an air vehicle, the requirements might be much stricter. Wait. What are they, again?"

"You tell me. I can't read these runes."

The "runes" were in fact, perfect English. I accessed the Internet through my passport and found the official instructions. "WHOA!" I exclaimed.

"What?" he asked.

"It says here that you need to take a knowledge test before getting a permit. You need to get every one of the 35 questions right to pass. Then you need to take 14 all-day classes in simulators, and at the end, they'll give you a test that lasts a full day. Only if you pass that, with two mistakes at most, you get licensed. DANG!"

He stared at me in confusion. "Wha—huh?"

So I had to explain every single word he didn't understand. By the end, he finally conceded, "Okay…so your point is, there's no way we can fly a ship back to Planet…uh…"

"Planet Portania?"

"Yeah, Planet Portania! There's no way we can fly there and get Dialga to send you back to the past by nightfall, right?"

"Nightfall! Right! Not then! Wait—you want me to go back already?"

His eyes narrowed. "Think about it. Wouldn't the people on your home planet be worried if you never come back?"

"I'll come back eventually!" I complained. "I've been having the best day of my life! I've never been worried about that until YOU brought it up. Come on, at least wait a few more days until I get used to this city. Then we can think about going back, okay?"

"…Fine," he curtly replied. He sighed, and slumped down onto the table. "…So what now? Nightfall is coming. What'll we do when we get too tired to move?"

"Rent a hotel room, of course!" I declared, smacking my right fist into my left hand again. Unfortunately, an official public service announcement on the Internet popped up that announced that every single room in every single hotel Gaijin City was booked for the night. "Arrgh. So much for that idea." I whispered. "Let me think…maybe we could go camping?"

"What's camping?" he asked.

"Didn't you and Big Amy and Chikorita do that all the time? I mean, you Pokémon are lucky—you can just find a random crevice in a random cliff, or a random tree in a random forest, set up a campfire or something, and just go to sleep there! Me? I need a tent, at least!"

"Oh, I get it. I think you mean making a Secret Base. I can do that."

"A Secret Base? Sounds good, but I'll need to buy a few things first," I explained. I immediately remembered my Pokémon Ruby game. In it, I made a base on Route 118 in a reddish cove with all sorts of cute decorations. At the time, I really wished I could live there. It's too bad they took the feature (or reduced it) in the newest Pokémon games—I loved making them. But this time...this time, maybe I could live in one for real! Of course, with Grovyle and Chikorita coming along, it might have to be more tree/grass-based. Oh well. I guess I'll try to make it work.

"How far away is the closest forest?" he asked.

I looked it up on the Internet and groaned. "30 miles. We'll never get there before dark…"

"Can't be that bad. Let's get whatever stuff you need, and then we run all the way there."

"RUN? No way! Are you saying—?" Right when I was about to scream from frustration, a genius idea occurred to me that was so obvious, I wondered why I didn't think of it beforehand. "Or…we could catch a ride on one of those airbuses!" I said, pointing to one as one passed by.

* * *

I told the plan to Big Amy and Chikorita, and after we were finished eating, we went to the official camping store. Since Grovyle memorized the Secret Power move (likely out of necessity from running around that dark future world with Amy Purima all the time back then), I didn't need to buy a tent. That was good, because the less money we spent, the better off we were. In the end, all I had to buy was an Amazing Shrinking Backpack to put my old backpack in, some cute furniture items and bedsheets that also went in there, and something called a "privacy dome". The label said that it prevents ectoplasmic (that means "ghost-like") aliens from invading your privacy, and it also repels any tracing technology, too. Finally, you can see out, but no one can see in. Chikorita encouraged me to buy one, mostly because of the ghost protection.

We took an airbus to the station on the outermost rim of Gaijin City. Along the way, we chatted with some of the passengers, admired the sunset, and gazed at the rest of the city. We got off. From our point, the forest was five miles away, so we ran the rest of the way there. We managed to get there within an hour and ten minutes or so. I was tired, but not dead-tired, since I was used to running 4.66 miles at Burke Lake Park almost every weekend. Grovyle still had tons of energy left. Big Amy and Chikorita were the slowest. After only 3 miles, I had to carry Big Amy and Grovyle had to drag Chikorita the rest of the way.

He expertly climbed the squiggly trees to the highest point, where the foliage was by far the densest. I mean, the trees looked like normal Earth trees, except that maybe alien fertilizer was poured on them. He was really high up, but I could still see him generate a mysterious ball of energy and launch it right at the foliage. The energy bunched the foliage into a sturdy-looking tree house, and a vine ladder popped out of the entrance, snaking down the tree trunks and landing right in front of us.

"Whhooooooaaaa…" I uttered in amazement.

He jumped down and motioned for us to climb up. "After you guys."

I excitedly climbed the whole way, even though I haven't climbed a tree in forever. Big Amy and Chikorita took a little longer since they were so tired, but Grovyle helped them out. Inside was a wide-open space with two floors. I guessed the upper lever was for me. Since it looked like no nasty insects were crawling about, I placed the privacy dome device in the center, set the radius to just outside the Secret Base, and activated it. Oh yeah, and I set it so that no one's but our genetic signatures could get inside.

"So how do you like it?" he asked me.

"This…is…AWESOME!" I then looked at my watch. It was 8:45 pm. "Hey guys, can we set up the beds now? It's almost my bedtime."

Big Amy asked, "Why now? I want to see the stars tonight!"

Chikorita agreed, "Yeah, they probably look different on an alien planet!"

"I don't think we can. Cities have nasty photochemical smog that usually blocks out all the stars—" Right then, I looked outside through the window and saw how wrong I was. "—WHOA! Never mind!"

The three of them joined me. We sat, transfixed. There were thousands—maybe millions—of stars dotting the sky in the wake of the sun that just completely set. For a second, I was confused. How come we could see all this? Then I realized that the lights from the city were extremely dim, and every single vehicle emitted no pollutants whatsoever. It was the era of hydrogen technology, or better.

A shout interrupted my thoughts. "Hey! New neighbors!" We looked back down to where it was coming from. Hanging from a tree in the distance was a 6-meter (18 feet!) tall plant creature with a seed-like pod for a head with leaves sprouting from it, and sinuous root-vine systems for a body. But the voice came from a 12-feet tall version of that creature, and besides, it was much closer to us. I wondered how it could talk.

Big Amy, Chikorita, and I just stared in shock, wondering what to say. Finally, Grovyle asked, "What are—I mean, who are you? Do you live here?"

"Why, yes. My name is Loz-Nom. We're Wuudites."

My eyes widened. Wuudites? Did he mean, like one of those guys from Meteos?

"We hail from Planet Wuud, but we wished to learn how to live in harmony with the citizens of this galaxy, so we came here and formed a colony. We cannot afford to forget about our home, though..." he sighed.

Another Wuudite swung in from the tree branches of the weird forest to meet us. "Los-Nom? What are you—oh! New neighbors!" she said.

"Um...hi?" I tentatively greeted.

"Hello! Los-Nom probably introduced himself. My name is Plu-Thrim. I am really sorry we couldn't greet you sooner—we need to rest up for the Sunrise of Life Ceremony. Perhaps you'd like to join us?" she requested.

Grovyle considered it. "Sunrise of Life Ceremony? Hmmm...sounds intriguing..."

"What's it about? What are we supposed to do?" asked Chikorita.

Los-Nom explained for us. "We can never afford to take this planet's sunrise for granted. Without it, we would never remember our homes, our lives, or even our purposes for living. Every seven days, we give thanks up on top of the highest tree in the forest over there, as you can see." He pointed to it. There were lots of unusually tall trees in the forest, but that particular one almost looked as if it could touch the sky. We gasped in amazement.

Plu-Thrim continued, "It is difficult to express in words; you can understand it best if you experience it directly. There will be singing and dancing, but anyone can participate; not just us Wuudites. It begins tomorrow morning one hour before the sunrise. What do you say? Would you like to join us?"

"An hour before...?" whispered Big Amy and Chikorita in shock. Obviously, they were remembering what it was like when they were in Wigglytuff's Guild.

"I could try it. Guys, what do you think?" I asked.

Grovyle smiled. I mean, I hadn't seen him smile like that the whole day. "Where I come from, no one celebrates the sunrise as much as they should. So yes, I'll participate too."

In the end, even Big Amy and Chikorita couldn't resist their curiosity over what alien dancing might be like, so they agreed too, even if it meant waking up early. We introduced ourselves to Los-Nom and Plu-Thrim before they went to join the other Wuudites wherever they lived.

When we finally went to bed (the three of them on the bottom, me on the top), I gazed at the stars one more time and smiled. Human society managed to reach a sustainable level, even if some aliens like the Wuudites had to help them out. Now this was a future I was happy to be living in. I thought back to everything that happened today; I got to be friends with Team Pecha and Grovyle, and got to go on their space adventure with them! Furthermore, I really was in the city of my dreams, doing things that I never would've thought I'd ever do. There was so many times throughout the day that I pinched myself to see whether it was all a dream. But it wasn't, and I was glad.

"Hey, Little Amy? Do you think we're going to be forced to live here forever?" whispered Big Amy.

"Yeah, I don't know about you, but personally, I don't think this is much of a space adventure," added Chikorita.

I thought for a moment. "You're right, Chikorita. If I were to write a story like this, tomorrow would be about the time something would happen to move the story forward. But life is life. Who knows? Anything could happen. Maybe nothing."

"You write stories?" asked Big Amy in amazement.

"Yeah. I've always wanted to be a manga artist since I was 14." When they looked at me in confusion, I quickly explained, "That means I draw pictures to tell the stories I write, but you can also read what the characters are saying."

"That sounds so cool! You probably have good storytelling instincts, too!" speculated Chikorita.

Storytelling instincts? Now **that **sounded cool. Maybe I did have them. "Yeah, maybe..." I yawned. "I'm tired. Goodnight, guys..."

"Goodnight..."

Just before I went under, I thought to myself that if I were to write a story, I tended to prefer adventures to everyday life. True, the characters would have to be on the move all the time, but it would seem like an actual story to me. But like I said, life was life. Anything could happen tomorrow. After all, I started a new journal just last night. I wished I remembered to bring it along so I could write down everything that happened to me today. But on the other hand, I was so tired, I wouldn't get very far...even if I...wanted to...*yawn*...good night.

* * *

_Samus and Adam are floating in orbit around Capital Planet. Apparently, when they fired Samus, they also kicked her out of her own private room in the Galactic Federation Headquarters, so she's stuck with living in the ship for a while. She and Adam continue to "discuss" things._

Adam: …I can't believe it! I still can't believe it! How could they fire you just like that?

Samus: I told you! I told you we should've ditched those stowaways when we had the chance!

Adam: They're just children!

Samus: They're civilians! Besides, one of them was practically a legal adult!

Adam: She didn't LOOK like a legal adult…

Samus: Whatever! They're the ones that got us into this mess in the first place!

_Adam was about to retort with something, but then a thought comes to his mind. He starts processing all the data files related to the Galactic Federation, especially the ones concerning Samus' termination of employment._

Samus: Aren't you going to say something? Uh…Adam? What are you doing?

Adam: I'm looking though these files. I just thought of something…about that termination.

Samus: What about it? Stowaways always were a bad—

Adam: Didn't you think it was kinda weird that Commander Tierney made such a big deal about them?

Samus: Not really.

Adam: What I'm interested about is why he thinks no fewer than two of them have, quote on quote, "unusually powerful energy signatures". That's pretty vague, don't you think?

Samus (kicking back and relaxing): Maybe. I don't care.

_While they ponder over that, let's take a look at what's happening above the city, unbeknownst to them. There is a massive Space Pirate fleet hovering from above that is taking orders from an unseen Boss-Man._

Pirate ship A-1: Wii r redi & aw8 yer orders, l33t Boss-Man.

Boss-Man: Good. Sweep the city, boys! We're looking for two beings with an unusually powerful energy signature. Got it? SWEEP THE CITY!

Pirate ship A-1: Aye-aye, Boss-Man!

All pirate ships: w00t! w00t! w00t! w00t!

_The ships scatter and run scanners over every square inch of the massive metropolis. They encounter a lot of privacy domes along the way, but they're not worried…yet. From each ship, about half of the Space Pirates leap out, make themselves invisible, and land in a storage building, manning 50-feet-tall vacuum cleaners known as Sweepers, which aren't invisible. These Sweepers look suspiciously like the ones from Robots, the Movie. They then drive the Sweepers out of the building and patrol the city, sweeping up garbage. Eventually, a random lackey from Sweeper S-23 speaks to the commander of the Sweeper._

Random lackey: Uh…sir?

Random Pirate Commander: Whut?

Lackey: Do ya think Wii r B-ing 2 literal?

Commander: No, u dooshebag. Teh Boss-Man sed 2 "sweep teh city", so Wii r sweepin' it!

_After a few hours, the Boss-Man first calls all of the ships via radio._

Boss-Man: Found anything yet?

Pirate ships A-1 through M-99: Not yet, Boss-Man!

_Next, he radios all of the Space Pirates running the Sweepers._

Boss-Man: How about you guys?

Sweepers N-1 through Y-99: Not a thing, Boss-Man!

_Finally, the Boss-Man radios the two meanie-butt Space Pirates from ship Z. Both of them are invisible, but unlike the others, they are merely carrying brooms, sweeping the ground._

Boss-Man: …And what about you?

Zork (in frustration): R u 4 reel? Wii ain't found—!

_Right then, Zork's broom hits something on the ground._

Zork: Hold up! Whut's dis?

Zark: Lemme scan it.

_Zark picks up what looks like fragmented torn-up ratty remains of a book. Zork runs the scanner over it. The scanner suddenly emits a loud high-pitched beeping noise, and the monitor on it shows that the blue-lined outline of the mess has a whole swarm of pink, high-energy particles around it._

Zark: Whoa-ho-ho! Wii found som'tin', Boss-Man!

Boss-Man: Ah, excellent! All fleets, get back up here at once.

_All the Space Pirates drive the Sweepers back into storage and are beamed back aboard all the ships, which have stopped their scanning. In the meantime, hovering high over the city, the Boss-Man's ship beams Zark and Zork up from the ground. When they arrive, their invisibility shields turn off to conserve power. The meanie-butts hand the evidence over. It disappears into the next room, and the only view they have of it is a monitor with their Boss-Man's face on it. It's completely backlit, so they can't see his face at all; only a shadow. Zark and Zork discuss this._

Zork (whispering): Dude. Dat guy really needz 2 get more lights.

Zark (also whispering): Yeh. I can barely c nothin' in dere.

_Finally, the Boss-Man completes his analysis._

Boss-Man: Muahahaha…You did well, boys. This **is** the energy signature!

Zark: So didja piece dat mess back 2-gether, Boss-Man?

Boss-Man: No duh. This here book title is called How to Be Human. Foolish n00bs, letting us track them to…Muahahahaha!

Zork: So where r dey now?

Boss-Man: … … …

_He tries to telepathically track the energy signature back to its source, but no luck._

Boss-Man: …Slight problem, boys. I can't find them yet.

Zark and Zork: Whut teh-?

Boss-Man: YET. They're probably hiding under a privacy dome or something. Get some sleep, boys. Tomorrow, we'll try again. During the day!

Zark and Zork: w00t! w00t! w00t! w00t!

_Back to Samus and Adam…_

Adam: He also said that you have a chance of being re-employed if you not only find them again, but abandon them back where they came from, which is to say, Planet Portania. Something smells suspicious here.

Samus: Too bad there's no way to know where they are right now.

Adam: …You know what? Let me look them up right now. I want to know why they're so special.

Samus: Suit yourself. Good night.

Adam: …How do you spell "Per-EE-muh", again? P-U-R…

Samus: That's right. …*yawn*…

_He manages to find the file of Amy Vee Purima, but doesn't get very far when he sees something weird._

Adam: …Uh…Lady?

Samus: *Zzk*—huh?

Adam: She IS still living, right?

Samus: Yeah. Why?

Adam: Look at this.

_Annoyed, a sleepy Samus reluctantly takes a look at the monitor and examines the area that Adam is furiously highlighting._

Samus: And…? Yeah, she died on August 23, 2499—WAIT A SECOND HERE!

Adam: Like I was saying—it's a discrepancy. This is the year 2510. It doesn't match up.

Samus (reeling with shock): No way…no way…Who IS she, really?

Adam: I can feel it. There's something that no one's telling us. Commander Tierney knows something, those children know something, even the Space Pirates know something. But we don't.

Samus (with finality): That's it. First thing tomorrow morning—we find them and make them explain themselves.

_They finally call it a night and conk out._

* * *

"Little Amy! Little Amy!"

"Uugh…huh?"

"GET…OFF...ME!"

It was Big Amy. How did she end up pinned under my head? "AAAAH! I'm sorry! I'm sorr—how the heck did you get there?" I gasped, pushing myself off her as fast as I could.

"Why are YOU using me as a pillow?"

Just then, I heard Chikorita and Grovyle stifling laughter. I shot my best, "why the heck did you do that?" look at them. They just shrugged. Chikorita asked innocently, "Didn't you like it?"

We both stammered at the same time. "W-well, yeah, but…"

I stopped. "You liked it too?"

"Yeah. You're hair's fluffy. I mean, really fluffy."

"Huh? I thought you were the fluffy one. I mean—didn't you yell at me to get off?"

"I did, but only because we were going to be late for the Sunrise of Life Ceremony."

"Sunrise of Life Ceremony? What time is it, anyway?" I looked at my watch. 5:30 am. "Wait...you mean...?" We ran to the window and saw the two Wuudites hanging outside, waiting for us. "AAAH! Are we late! I'm sorry! I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry—"

Plu-Thrim cut me off and explained, "Um...Little Amy? You are not late. Come. We'll take you there."

So I ended up riding on Plu-Thrim while Grovyle, Chikorita, and Big Amy rode on Los-Nom. They carried us to the base circling the tallest tree of the forest, where Wuudites of all sizes (anywhere from 8 to 18 feet tall) were wound tightly around, shaking back and forth in time to a drumbeat coming from somewhere. As we approached, the drumbeat stopped, and the Wuudites turned to face us. The 18-feet tall one slithered forward to address us.

"Fellow Wuudites. Today we welcome four new neighbors as friends-Big Amy, Little Amy, Chikorita, and Grovyle!"

They all cheered and made space for us on the stage ringing the tree. We jumped on, while Los-Nom and Plu-Thrim slithered to both sides of us. For the next 35 minutes, during a song that was a beautiful opening choir of some sort, Los-Nom and Plu-Thrim taught us some basic to advanced dance moves. I'm serious. Even though their body shapes were radically different, they still knew how to teach us moves that we could physically perform. I was really surprised. I guessed that was what they meant when they said that anyone could participate. Or maybe the two of them had lots of experience teaching other people that came here before us.

It was a strange setup; as soon as one Wuudite started a chant of some sort, it became a song, and everyone started dancing to it, very much like a musical. It was so addicting! After about 5 of those, all detailing things such as the history of their world, epic fairy tales with lessons that taught the values of their culture, and more, Plu-Thrim had an odd request. "Little Amy, might I ask you...do you know of any songs you made that you'd like to share?"

I gulped. "Uh, sorry. I don't write songs. I write stories and poems."

"Poems? Why, songs are merely poems with music. Why don't you recite one of your poems? We can figure out its true melody."

"I-I dunno. It doesn't exactly praise the sunrise, so it might not work here—"

"It doesn't have to! While that may be close to our hearts, we want to know what's close to yours."

"...Okay. Thanks. I think I've got one." I reached into my Amazing Shrinking Backpack and pulled out a piece of paper that I planned on showing Big Amy and Chikorita, but got distracted with the whole space adventure before I could. The paper had the most random poem I ever wrote for AP English Literature class. Big Amy and Chikorita they were practically begging me to read it. I cleared my throat and recited, as dramatically as possible, to my enraptured audience.

_"Why Can't I Just Be Normal?"_

_says those who need to be accepted in  
__the eyes of __their friends,  
__To be in common with, to make amends,  
__To not be freaky. To be __on the ball.  
__They can't risk the pain of having no __friends  
at all._

_But I've never bought into this "normal" stuff,  
__For me, normal is just a dryer setting,  
__A type in Pokémon, on one which is__  
__not worth betting,  
__Somewhere between casual and formal.  
__See, I never had to worry about  
being normal!_

_I don't like Dance Clubs, I don't like the Mall,  
__I don't like loud types of Music at all,  
__I don't like Cars, or anything hence,  
__And Cell Phones and iPods make no sense!_

_I like cartoons and all kinds of movies,  
__I draw and write stories as much as I please,  
__And I think clearly by myself unseen,  
Besides, this is what I really mean:_

_Right now I think it's the friends that I choose,  
__Those that accept whether I win or lose,  
__And care about what I like to do.  
__But it makes more sense that there's a balance;  
__I need to accept them too._

_Everyone conforms to some degree,  
__If it's not a stretch, it's fine with me.  
__But I think that we, too, should always seek  
__Those hidden traits that make us all unique._

_"Why can't I just be normal?"  
says those in a jam,  
__My normal? Who I really am._to protect your privacy, do not give your middle name, last name...you get the idea..._]_

_By Amy_ [

I finished. Everyone was stunned with silence. Finally, Los-Nom said, "Th...that was...That was excellent!"

What do you know? All they had to do was add music, and then they turned it into a song. Well, a musical. Whatever! Luckily, I only had to participate as part of the choir, and leave the professional singing to those like Big Amy. Good thing, too—I might've participated in a choir last year, but had to quit not only because I didn't have the skills, but because I couldn't make friends with anyone there for some odd reason. Maybe the age difference was too much—I never had much luck dealing with middle school-aged kids. That seemed to be happening more often to me; not being able continue with any new interests if no one else is interested. But I digress. For the next 15 minutes, we actually danced to the song, and finally, we switched to their traditional performance rituals when the sun was about to rise.

As we heard the official chant (unfortunately, it sorta went in one ear and out the other because I'm not too good at audio learning), I realized that before, I had no idea just how beautiful the sunrise really was. I mean, photographs didn't do it justice. Seeing it while jogging yesterday morning didn't do it justice. Even Grovyle's point of view on it didn't do this one justice. To the Wuudites, that was what their whole lives depended on. If their planet ever got paralyzed, they would all die. They were right. That very fact of their lives wasn't something best expressed in words; it was meant to be danced, to be sung, to be experienced with every fiber of our beings. It was as simple as that.

Plu-Thrim came up to me and said, "Now you understand, don't you? This is who we are."

"I do. I totally understand." I seriously did.

"And I understand you. Whatever you do, you, too, should remember who you really are...no matter what happens. Promise?"

"...I promise."

I meant it. I took back what I thought about not being able to continue with new interests without friends—I vowed to not let that impede me anymore.

We sat there, enjoying the wondrous sight. At that moment, I realized that back at home, I was way more like Tiana than I thought I was, always busy with work, work, work. I don't think I've ever stopped to enjoy anything for that long in my life. And I smiled. Furthermore, in Meteos, Wuud was merely another vague planet you had to defend from annihilation by colored blocks. Getting to know them like real friends, being able to experience the true richness and values of their culture...even though I've had to travel to the future and completely leave my former life behind...I was still glad that I finally got the chance.

* * *

A few hours later, after saying goodbye to Los-Nom, Plu-Thrim and all our Wuudite neighbors, we ran to the bus stop and rode the bus to the center of the city again. But by the time we got there, we were at a loss as to what to do next. So I decided to take another look at my passport card. I gulped and slapped my forehead for not being more observant. Back at home, I always kept a close eye on my money. "I only have 47 credits left. What about you guys?"

Big Amy, Chikorita, and Grovyle respectively had 102, 34, and 72 credits left. Not a good sign. "What do we do?" asked Chikorita in despair.

I thought hard. At this rate, we were going to be really screwed, big time. No more enjoying the city, no more buying more awesome technology from the future...we might be reduced to living on the margins, which made me gulp. For a long time, my mom and dad provided me with a comfortable middle-class life. Would we be forced to live the way they did when I was 5 or younger, trying to find jobs with very little money? Us, poor? In the FUTURE? I realized I was beginning to panic and stopped myself in time. I sighed, "We have to find a way to get more money…either find a job…or—"

An announcement interrupted me by saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! Calling all first-time performers! If you've never participated in the Pokéathlon Contest before, sign up now for a chance to win 10,000 Federation Credits per participant!" It was coming from the 72nd floor on the building in front of us.

A Pokéathlon and a Pokémon Contest rolled into one? I stopped and stared at my three friends as a genius idea occured to me, and I'm sure a huge, silly grin must've crept onto my face.

"Or what?" they asked, completely confused.

I looked back and forth from the building to my friends, and back again. "This…could work."

To be continued…

**Coming up next: Yay! The Pokéathlon! I've played it all the time on my Pokémon Heartgold version! But what's it doing in Gaijin City? Will we be able to win? Will I be able to muster up enough courage to stand in front of a massive audience in a sports free-for-all? SPORTS? My worst subject at school? I really hope there's some sort of art competition to balance it out…Oh well! Whatever the case, you know what they say…**Let the Games Begin!


	7. Let the Games Begin!

Chapter 7: Let the Games Begin!

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! Welcome to the newbie division of the 25th Pokéathlon Contest!" shouted the announcer to the cheering crowd. His voice, coming from a closed space far above the ground, sounded familiar at the time, but I couldn't remember where I last heard it from.

We were in an enclosed stadium several thousand feet above the ground, though you'd never know it. Hundreds of thousands of spectators of all species packed the stands, and bright lights were trained on the whole stadium, which consisted of a massive racetrack about half a mile long in a loop. The lights shined the brightest on us, and oddly enough, they didn't blind my eyes or make me sweat. Must've been alien technology; yet another thing I liked about this future.

But let me give you a quick recap: Everyone agreed with my idea of entering us all in this contest. After all, we needed the money. The registration process took only a few minutes. I asked if we were supposed to practice or anything, but they said it was worthless because all three events were decided completely at random. They just slapped us with a convenient team color, in this case, green, sent us to a room where all registered contestants were waiting, and said we had to leave our backpacks there in the room. Since they needed only four teams, and we were the fourth team, we all had to immediately walk out and stand onto our color-coded stands in the middle of this stadium. Yeah, it was pretty fast. What I'm still not sure of is why there are so many spectators for a first-timers contest. I didn't want to know how many came to see the normal or even professional contests.

"First up is the red team! Introducing Alex's Team Pyro: Charizard, Typhlosion, and Infernape!"

The spotlight lit them with a reddish light, and the Pokémon fired some powerful Flamethrowers in the air. The team leader looked like a normal blond-haired 17-year-old boy, and I suppressed a gasp. He looked just like one of my longtime friends at school who also liked Pokémon, especially those three. Was he the very same—? But then I saw that he was an expert fire-dancer. He threw those fire sticks over and over again, never dropping them. I was amazed and exhaled in relief. My friend wasn't nearly as adept as this guy; he only knew of fire-dancing from Lilo and Stitch. This guy was a completely different Alex. Whew! It would've been weird beyond belief if HE came here too! Furthermore, this guy didn't even have glasses. What was I thinking?

...Of course, I then began to wonder whether this guy was teenage spy Alex Rider (probably not), but the announcer interrupted my thoughts and drew my attention to the next contestant. "Second up is the blue team! Introducing Cassie's Team Hydro: Piplup, Vaporeon, and Milotic!"

A blue light shone on a 15-year-old girl in an Arabian outfit like Princess Jasmine's with some silk streamers. Judging by how her blue hair was pulled back, I could only guess that she was a pro swimmer—maybe one of the best in the city. The way her Pokémon were shooting hydro pumps in the air with such grace, I bet she could also give the red team a run for its money.

"Third up is the yellow team! Introducing Peter's Team Electro: Electivire, Electrode, and Raichu!"

The brightest yellow spotlight lit up a 9-year-old boy with sandy brown hair. He reminded me of Anakin Skywalker, except that his costume was black and yellow rubber, complete with Pokémon trainer gloves. His Pokémon emitted electric sparks and such. After looking over the trainers again, I groaned. I was the oldest again! Why did this keep happening to me? I mean, maybe Pokémon might've been an elementary school thing, but Alex and Cassie were teenagers. And I was still the oldest! *sigh*…Just my luck. I guess the reason Big Amy and I complemented each other so well was because we had such opposite problems.

"And finally, last but not least, the green team!" Introducing Amy's Team Pecha: Jigglypuff, Chikorita, and Grovyle!"

That was us. A green light shone on us, and Grovyle shot the coolest Leaf Blade out while posing as awesomely as possible. Big Amy and Chikorita performed a little dance, and Chikorita mixed a Petal Dance and a Razor Leaf to add a beautiful flourish to it. Finally, because I really looked out of place with my sailor uniform and red skorts, I added to the dance with some leaf fans. The dance ended with Chikorita bouncing Amy to land on top of my head. We gave everyone an amazing ending pose, and the crowd went wild.

"Why did he call me Jigglypuff?" whispered Big Amy.

"Because that's what you are. Besides, wouldn't it be weird to hear our name said twice?" I replied.

"Oh yeah, good point."

"The contestants will be given three events, chosen **completely at random**, in which they must perform to the utmost extent of their ability. Points will be given based on achievement and effort. At the end, the team with the most points combined will win the grand prize of 10,000 Galactic Federation credits! Are all the contestants ready? Is everyone ready? Let's begin!"

A huge cylindrical hologram popped up in the middle of the field. It was like a lottery wheel, designed to randomly pick which event we'd be doing first. Several creatures in the audience started throwing darts at the spinning cylindrical holographic roulette. Every time a dart hit a spot, it made a little digital mark. As the seconds ticked, the event names with the spots slowed down way more than the others. My heart pounded faster and faster. The only thing worse than stage fright was not knowing what the heck you were going to be expected to do. In fact, my disastrous mistake in 8th grade was choosing an acting elective that turned out to be 2nd semester, and not just 2nd semester, but theatre sports, and in theatre sports, you also had no idea what role you would be expected to perform. Now you know where my stage fright originated from, and why I will never in a million years become an actress. I looked around at my fellow contestants and teammates. Why didn't they seem the least bit nervous? Maybe they—especially Grovyle—were just hiding it really well.

Finally, the roulette stopped, and the one with the most marks on it was highlighted. The announcer guy shouted, "And it's the Hurdle Reeeelaaaay Ruuuuuun!" The crowd went wild, and so did Team Electro, while the other two teams smiled (or were they just trying to put up a good front?). I let out a sigh of relief; out of all the sports, running was the one I could tolerate the most.

"What's that?" whispered Big Amy and Chikorita at once. I was wondering that too.

Luckily, we didn't have to wait long. "In the Hurdle Relay Run, the contestants run on foot to the finish line on a 500-meter track. But they will also have to jump over hurdles that my pop up in their paths. All four contestants in each team must cross the finish line to go on to the next event, and all of their times are recorded. The team with the lowest combined time gets the highest score!"

As he announced all that, the stadium in front of us metamorphosed into a circular track 500 meters long, just as he said. The finish line was in the center at the end of a swirl the track made. We'd be going uphill the whole way. Then the platform all the teams were standing on suddenly split them and us up into different elevations. We were at the top, while Team Pyro was at the bottom. Finally, the track split into four for us to each run on. It was a really weird layered course, and for a second, I became really paranoid about the height, but luckily, barriers popped up on the edges of the track to prevent us from falling off. I guessed we were lucky; Team Pyro had to worry about three teams running over their heads. But I couldn't help but gulp, "M-maybe we should've watched this kind of thing first, instead of participating—"

"They said it wouldn't have helped. Now focus. One little slip in your concentration could be fatal!" Grovyle replied, turning his game face on. I cringed as I remembered that he said the same thing in my Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky game. Obviously, he was way more prepared for these kinds of things than any of us combined. Big Amy and Chikorita took a deep breath and focused themselves too.

"Do you think we're going to win?" Chikorita asked me.

"My storytelling instincts tell me that we are," I gulped. "Somehow…I hope…"

From left to right, in the lanes were: Me, Big Amy, Chikorita, and Grovyle. Our platforms then moved my friends up ahead of me, to account for the curving of the track. Since the course curved to the left the whole time, that of course meant that I was the furthest back. Gulp.

"Are the contestants ready?" shouted the announcer.

Team Pyro and Team Electro went "WROOOAAAR!" while Team Hydro and us went "YEEEAAAH!" Grovyle didn't say anything; he just glared. I guessed that was his way of psyching himself up. Me? I tried shouting "YEAH!" too, but it just hurt my throat. Ow…

A hologram set of three lights materialized in front of us. They lit up in time with the announcer's voice. "Then let the games begin! Three…two…one…GO!"

The loud blaring noise was like a gunshot that activated my legs. I blasted off at full force—probably a bad idea considering how I was used to warming up by jogging lightly, but who cares? It was only 500 meters, right? I ran at my 100% top speed, straining with all my might, but at the same time, I was worried because I knew from experience that my top speed was only about half of that compared to the boys' on the cross-country team—maybe even a third. Breathe in though the nose, breathe out through the mouth. Again. And again. And again. I squinted my eyes and tried not to ignore where my teammates were compared to me—tried to ignore the fact that Grovyle was still way ahead of me.

And then I saw the first hurdle pop up in front of me.

"WAAAGH!" I jumped. I remembered how my jumping ability was painfully average in P.E. class, but I still jumped. It was too high. I couldn't clear it. I could only brace myself for the painful crash, and…

My shoes hit the bar. The bar bounced me off. And when I landed on the ground, it suddenly felt like I was going twice as fast. Grovyle looked at me in shock. I was about to pass him.

"What the-! How are you-?"

I looked down at my legs where he was pointing, and I saw a halo of green energy. Green energy? And then I remembered…in my Pokémon Heartgold game, you go faster…if you land on the bar!

"Guys! Don't jump over the bar! Land ON it!" I shouted.

"Huh?" asked Big Amy and Chikorita. I looked back. Apparently they were avoiding the bars by ducking underneath, which was dangerous, because the bars could retract and pin them there. Only Grovyle was jumping over the bars.

"Let me try," he said. Sure enough, as soon as he hit the bar and jumped off it, a green halo of energy materialized from his legs and he started moving faster than me again. Another bar popped up in front of me; I jumped on it and felt even faster. Now my aura was orange. It was a really weird feeling—my legs were moving so fast, I was starting to not be able to feel them at all.

"Whoa!" said Chikorita.

"I wanna try! I wanna try!" said Big Amy.

Sure enough, they both tried jumping instead of ducking for once, and started to speed up. In fact, because of their small size, they reached the bar only at the very apex of their jump, allowing them to press down on it hard and speed up even more. The bars came faster and faster, and were more and more random, but we never stumbled over any of them (well, except maybe one time for each one of us…and the boost was gone, so we had to start all over…). We all kept it up until we were all neck-and-neck, running at such insane speeds that I wondered for a second if we were going as fast as an F-Zero Machine by the time we reached the finish line.

"AAAAAAAH! Stop this thing! STOOOOP!" shouted Big Amy and Chikorita.

Uh-oh. We couldn't get rid of the boost we got, then in the highest red level. We were going to run right off the track. WHAM! "Oowww…"

Turns out, there was an invisible wall—I mean, force field—at the end that caught us. Good thing it was where it was; we were really high up there.

* * *

"So who won the first trial? Let's see the results!"

We were back on the ground level standing in our respective positions on the platform, gasping for breath. So did the other teams, more or less. The track had already retracted back into the ground, and our eyes were glued to the hologram cylindrical screen. The results appeared at once, stacked on top of each other.

Team: Total time, Place

Team Pyro: 548.231 seconds, 3rd place  
Team Hydro: 601.983 seconds, 4th place  
Team Electro: 337.023 seconds, 1st place  
Team Pecha: 342.508 seconds, 2nd place

"AAAAGH!" we shouted. We were so close to 1st place that time. As Team Electro whooped and cheered, I wonder how they managed to win. Maybe they knew about the speed boosts already.

"But this contest is just getting started! Anything can happen from here! And now…Onto the second event!" shouted the announcer.

The results disappeared, and the roulette thingy took its place. People threw more darts as it spun. (I think there were automatic dart dispensers up there.) As it slowed down, I saw a few events I simply could not stand and crossed my fingers. Please please please please PLEASE don't let it be something like tennis ball hitting or theatre sports!

Luckily, it was none of those. "It's the Dance-Off!" he shouted.

Big Amy and Chikorita rubbed their hands together (more or less) and said, "Ooooo...Interesting."

It sounded manageable to me. How bad could it be? After all, I took tons of lessons in ballet and jazz dancing when I was Big Amy's age. The platform with us and the other teams split again, this time in different directions lining the stadium walls. Our section was moved all the way to the other side, while Team Pyro's practically didn't move at all. The other teams' moved to the far left and right. As the stadium morphed and brought a massive stage out from the center with tracks all around it, the announcer explained the event.

"One team will dance any dance they want for a full minute while the others watch. Then those teams will have 15 seconds to copy their favorite moves from that team. Each team will have the chance to lead once and only once. The leaders earn points based on how complex and graceful the quality of their dances are, while the followers earn points based on how well they copy the leader's moves. Everyone will earn points based on energy and effort they exert, how synchronized they are to the music, and how synchronized they are with each other. Again, the team with the most points wins!"

Team Pyro's platform moved to the center on that high stage. They were going first. Suddenly, I gulped. When it was our turn, we had to make up a dance? On the spot?

"Which dance should we do?" I asked Big Amy and Chikorita.

"Ooo, I know! I know! How about that one the Wuudites taught us?" suggested Big Amy.

Chikorita built on top of it. "Let's do that as a base, but make up the extra hand motions and stuff by ourselves."

Finally, Grovyle added in his two cents. "Just keep your movements in time with the music. Be spontaneous, graceful, and controlled. And like I said before, don't lose focus."

"I got it! I got it!" Did he think I was like one of those kids who never listened to the teacher? Sheesh…

"Just have fun, okay? That always worked for me," said Big Amy.

"Thanks! I will," I replied. "You too, guys."

All the lights turned out. It was pitch black. Then a slightly reddish but mostly yellow spotlight shone on Team Pyro. All four members were facing opposite directions. That Alex guy gripped his fire sticks even more tightly. Dang. He and his Pokémon must've been way more nervous than me.

"First up is Team Pyro! Are the contestants ready? Is everyone ready? Okay! Start the music! Three…two…one…DANCE!"

I recognized the music at once. It was Lucky K.K. from Animal Crossing! Why were they playing that here? But then I figured, it had a pretty upbeat tune and a fast tempo, so it'd be useful to get out some nervousness, but on the other hand, it was too fast for a hula. Shame. Otherwise, I would've memorized the hula from Lilo and Stitch (the movie, not the TV show).

Guess what Team Pyro did for that full minute? All four of them fire-danced some more. Yeah, even Charizard, Typhosion, and Infernape were holding fire sticks, apparently. While we watched them closely, bouncing in tune with the music, I wondered how in the world we could imitate them. I mean, neither us nor the other teams had any fire sticks! I guessed we would just have to pretend we had them. Team Pyro was doing some pretty crazy moves, including spinning both sticks into the air and catching them several times in a row. Finally, there was a natural quiet moment in the music. Their minute was up. The spotlight turned off on them, and more spotlights (with a hint of each of our colors) turned on us, Team Hydro, and Team Electro.

I almost panicked, but then the announcer said, "Are the other teams ready? Okay! A-one…a-two…a-one, two, three, four!"

On the spot, I did the cha-cha slide, stepping in perfect time to the music, while I pantomimed Team Pyro's fire-stick throwing as best as I could. My teammates might've performed a different leg movement, but I think they got the idea. I didn't know. I wasn't allowed to face them. We did that for a full 15 seconds.

When our time was up, there was another natural break in the music, and all our spotlights turned off. Team Pyro's platform moved off the stage in the center, and at the same time, Team Hydro's platform moved to take their place. When they were in place, a blue light shone on them.

"Next up is Team Hydro! Ready? Three, two, one, DANCE!"

Whoa! Whhoooooaaa! Cassie and her Pokémon were, like, masters of dancing! Their leg movements were fast, furious, and graceful at the same time. I wondered if it was tap-dancing. Meanwhile, the arm movements were as fluid as liquid; Cassie brandished streamers from both hands and whipped it in graceful manner, like a river. And while Milotic and Vaporeon weren't quite as capable of Cassie's movement as Piplup was, they combined a Water Pulse with an Aurora Beam and created a beautiful appeal in the air, all while sinuously moving to the music. By the time the light dimmed out on them, I forgot that it was almost our turn.

Well, I did my best…but to tell you the truth, I probably didn't look as graceful as I felt. I mean, that dance was so complex, I wondered if I was doing it right at all! Grovyle probably didn't have much luck either. At least Big Amy and Chikorita could reasonably handle it. Finally, our lights turned off, and Team Electro replaced Team Hydro.

They were amazing, too. Especially Electivire! He was a master of both the electric slide and the robot, and combined both moves into one dance routine. Peter and Raichu synchronized with him really well, too. While Electrode couldn't do a thing, he helped in his own way. Not only did he bounce and tilt in time to the music, his electric sparks helped add to the team's effect. As I watched, I sighed in relief. Finally, a dance that I actually had a chance of doing!

We and the other teams had 15 seconds to imitate them, as usual. Oddly enough, I found their stiff, choppy motions even easier to do than Cassie's graceful ones, so I was feeling really confident about my performance, and had lots of fun, too. Also, funny story: Big Amy decided to imitate Electrode. I wasn't sure whether it was against the rules to not copy what Grovyle, and Chikorita, and I were doing, but she sure seemed to have fun doing so.

Finally, it was our turn. Our platform moved forward and up to the center in almost pitch-black darkness, and I almost lost my balance. It was so weird. My heart began to pound faster and faster (if it wasn't pounding fast enough already), until Grovyle reminded me, "Focus," and Amy reminded me, "This is going to be fun, okay? Fun, fun, fun, fun, FUN!" like Master Wigglytuff. Huh. That's right. Master Wigglytuff would never get nervous, especially not by something like this. We started bouncing in time to the music.

The greenish light turned on us. We faced opposite directions. And the announcer said, "Is Team Pecha ready for this? Okay! Three, two, one, DANCE!"

What do you know? It **was** fun. Luckily I remembered the steps that the Wuudites taught us, and I made up arm movements that perfectly synchronized with the music. Whenever I spun around, I saw that Chikorita added flourishes with her Petal Dance (yeah, I know that she had to have evolved into a Meganium to normally learn that move, but she's awesome like that), and Grovyle brandished his awesome Leaf Blade poses. Of course, Big Amy bounced around like Kirby in the cutest way possible. I loved those guys. They inspired me to do the best that I could.

Finally, the light turned off on us, and we exhaled in relief. We watched the other teams mimicked what we did for 15 seconds. As I surveyed them, my jaw dropped at the sight of Team Hydro. Cassie was not only following our moves, (I think) she made them look even better! I wondered if she also improved upon the other teams' dances too.

But there was one more surprise. After our platform moved back down, I felt it move up a few feet or so. Suddenly, spotlights shone on every team including us. The announcer explained, "Oh-ho! It looks like the contestants get one more chance to show their stuff. For the last minute of the song, they incorporate all four dances any way they want! Okay! Last one! Three, two, one, DANCE!"

I think we paced ourselves pretty well, too; we did each dance for 15 seconds each. We danced the same dance that we did for the last 15 seconds, but this time, I tried to add the grace that Cassie performed. During the whole time, we had to keep our balance, as our platforms were moving along the perimeter of the stadium really fast in a clockwise manner, so everyone in the stands could get a better look. Most people cheered, others booed, but overall, we were received pretty well.

Finally, the music came to a stop, and all the lights in the stadium turned back on. The platforms stopped, we took a bow, and everyone in the stands went wild. Then, as the stadium returned back to normal, the hologram cylinder materialized in the center again. Here was what it said:

Team Pyro: 392 points, 4th place  
Team Hydro: 720 points, 1st place  
Team Electro: 512 points, 3rd place  
Team Pecha: 697 points, 2nd place

"GAAAAAH!" we shouted. 2nd place again. And so close, too… Cassie and her friends cheered.

"Now it's down to the final event! Can anyone turn things around?"

The usual darts-and-roulette routine. The usual heart-pounding frantic uncertainty. As the roulette slowed down, I had to tell myself to calm down. Just one more to go. And our final event was…well, it had a really long name.

"The 4-on-4 Competition of Wills ROBATTLE!"

"YEAH! WOOOO!" shouted Alex, Charizard, Typhlosion, and Infernape.

Excuse me? "Did he say…Robattle?" I gasped.

"What? What's a Robattle?" asked Big Amy.

"It—it's just like a normal Pokémon battle—except you use Medabots—but none of us even have a Medabot—so how—?"

"Then it's agreed! I officially declare this match a submission Robattle!"

A short, thin, almost-bald old man suddenly parachuted from the announcer booth. "Mr. Referee!" I exclaimed in surprise. What do you know? The announcer guy WAS Mr. Referee. No wonder his voice sounded so familiar. Suddenly, I fell back into a thick, massive, metal chair that apparently rose from beneath me, and a helmet of some sort clamped onto my head. It happened to Alex, Cassie, and Peter, too. At the same time, a square fighting arena stadium formed in the center, taking up much of the stadium.

"As such, I, Mr. Referee, shall act as referee! The rules are simple! Each team of three Pokémon battles the other three teams. All Pokémon continue until they are unable to battle. The team with at least one Pokémon standing by the end is the victor!" shouted Mr. Referee as he landed on a floating platform above the center of the stadium. "All Pokémon, step forward onto the stadium!" They did. Grovyle sharpened his Leaf Blades and put on his game face again, while Amy and Chikorita gulped and tried to look as confident as they could.

Mr. Referee continued, "Attention, all team leaders! This is a willpower machine. It allows you to transfer your thoughts and focus to your Pokémon teammates. Though you won't be doing any fighting for safety reasons, any less than your full concentration can mean the difference between victory and defeat!"

The machine powered on. I tested it out. Almost immediately, it was like an electric current was transmitted to Big Amy, Chikorita, and Grovyle. It was like I could influence their movements to some degree, and even give them extra energy if necessary. It was exactly like the "chess" machine from the manga Tsubasa (the one by CLAMP), only it was a 3-on-3 four-way Pokémon battle that was called a Robattle. Weird!

Grovyle shot a really serious look at me. "Hey! Remember what I said, and focus!"

"Ya think?" I glared, more serious than ever.

"Metafighters ready?" asked Mr. Referee.

"YEAH!" Alex, Cassie, Peter, and I shouted, though I wasn't really sure it should be called a Robattle. Suddenly, I realized that it was most likely one of the many distractions meant to interfere with my focus. I shook the incongruity out of my head and focused with all my might.

"All right, Metabots…ROBATTLE!"

My friends charged, and so did the other Pokémon. I didn't care whether it was a Pokémon battle, a Robattle, or whatever; for us, it was practically a fight to the death, so to speak. I could feel Grovyle and Chikorita going for the members of Team Hydro, but I sharpened my focus on Team Electro, because they were aiming for Team Hydro too. Besides, it was Team Pyro that worried me the most, and I mentally made the argument that Team Hydro was likely to go for Team Pyro for us. At the last second, they listened, and aimed their attacks at Team Electro. Grovyle used Leaf Blade on Electivire, Chikorita used Hidden Power (yes, it was Ground-type!) on Raichu, and Amy used her Defense Curl-Rollout combo to catch up to and whack Electrode.

It was intense. I had to keep my focus on all three of my teammates at once, ordering them to dodge sneaky attacks from behind, counter, and look out for that other guy's attack all at once. At least Amy kept spinning around the maelstrom and attacked at unpredictable times, so she was relatively safe, but the way that almost everyone kept aiming for Chikorita and Grovyle almost made my head spin. They were lucky I was there to tell them when to dodge! It went something like this:

Look out, Grovyle—Infernape's Blast Burn's gonna—yeah!—Aerial Ace 'em! Chikorita—use your leaf to—good job! Now use Hidden Power again—awesome—look out for that BLIZZARD! Run for it! Dang, didn't realize Milotic could do that—yeah, use that Vine Whip and swing Vaporeon around—throw her at Typhlosion—direct hit! Now while they're distracted, use Ancientpower on Charizard—look! Typhosion! He's gonna use Earthquake, guys! JUMP FOR IT! And Amy—aim right for Charizard from behind—watch out for his tail!

Typhosion did use Earthquake. My friends did dodge it. See, Amy had to bounce on Electrode to hit Charizard, whom flew even higher to dodge Earthquake. Chikorita and Grovyle had a harder time responding, but they did it. BOOM! The quake made Electrode use Explosion, engulfing Electivire, Raichu, and Team Hydro in it. It kinda blinded me too for a second.

"Functions ceased! Team Electro is unable to battle!"

Between the corners of the arena, there were healing stations, and from the ones closest to Peter launched three cords of light-blue liquid gelatin thingys. Those cords auto-stuck to the fainted Electivire, Raichu, and Electrode, dragging them away from the battle and into the healing machines. Meanwhile, Peter's willpower control machine automatically disconnected him, and you could tell he was pretty frustrated at Electrode. But I didn't have time to make those observations. I had a battle to focus on. And what was worse, Team Hydro was more focused on us than on Team Pyro.

AAAAH! So many Ice Beams! Run for it! Wait—I know! Run to the center—wait for it, wait for it—NOW JUMP! Flamethrowers and Ice Beams make a bunch of steam, so use its cover to attack! There goes Piplup, now focus on Vaporeon—what the heck is Typhosion doing—he knows Solarbeam! Look out!

The beam engulfed both Vaporeon and Milotic. "Functions ceased! Team Hydro is unable to battle!" The cords on Cassie's side dragged her remaining two Pokémon back. Now it was just us against Team Pyro, and to make matters worse, all three of Alex's Pokémon were still standing. Chikorita hung onto Charizard in the air, and she looked dangerously close to being on the business end of his Flamethrower. Right after I told her to use Ancientpower one more time and then let go, I gasped. She let go a second too late, and got hit. Hard. After she crashed into the ground, I wondered if she was okay. She was. In fact, she was starting to glow green with her Overgrow ability…not that it would help us, much. I then saw Charizard heading straight for Amy, prepping a Flare Blitz. I wanted to tell her to dodge, but she had her hands full focusing on the Typhlosion and Infernape. Right at the last second, Chikorita jumped right in front of Amy, launched her last Ancientpower, and—NOOOO!

"Functions ceased! Chikorita and Charizard are unable to battle!"

The cord brought Chikorita out of harm's way. I tried not to let the sudden absence of Chikorita's consciousness distract me from Amy and Grovyle. I had to focus.

Hit 'em with another Aerial Ace, Grovyle—yeah—look out for that Smokescreen! AAGH! Blow it away, Amy, quickly—A double Flare Blitz? And Infernape's already glowing red? What? No, Grovyle! NOOOO!

He took the double-header for Amy. I was upset that he ignored my orders to jump out of the way, but then I realized that I would've had to get Amy out of the way first, which made me mad at how awful I was at focusing on two Pokémon at once. The last thing I swore he whispered to me was, "Protect her…please…" and then he collapsed. Mr. Referee announced, "Grovyle is unable to battle!" Now it was just Amy against Typhlosion and Infernape. Gulp. I couldn't afford to lose my focus, but the fainting of both my friends was dangerously close to making me lose it. I fought back tears. Oddly enough, I felt like I had much better control over Amy than Chikorita or (especially) Grovyle. In fact, I could swear that she almost knew what I wanted her to do even before it came into my head.

Hit 'em with something, now, Amy! Hyper Voice!

She did. One "YOOM…TAH!" was enough to finally take down Infernape. But I couldn't relax, because then, Typhlosion started glowing red. No no no…not his Blaze ability too! I commanded Amy to use her Defense Curl-Rollout combo immediately. The sooner we end this, the better. Problem was, the moment she charged up and started rolling, Alex commanded Typhlosion to charge up a Flame Wheel. I advised her to hit him from the side. Yeah! It broke his concentration, but only for a second. Upon the second hit, Typhlosion charged up and started moving. I had to have Amy roll away around the perimeter of the stadium. Hopefully, Typhlosion would tire soon.

He didn't. The longer I had her roll around and around, the stronger that Flame Wheel kept becoming. I was getting really sweaty. The audience must've gotten a kick out of watching the two of them rolling around and smacking each other like something out of Beyblade. Finally, I realized that the longer this went on, the more heat Typhlosion was going to generate, and the lower our chances of winning. We had to end this now. Amy suddenly switched direction and bounced over Typhlosion, landing right in front of me, forcing him to come to a halt and turn around, just in time for her to charge at maximum power. Rollout was Rock-type, so it theoretically had an advantage, but that Flame Wheel, combined with the heat, the Blaze ability, and that 50% same type boost, made it extremely dangerous, too. I focused. She focused. So did Alex and Typhlosion. I could feel that we both had barely any health left. The next move would decide the match.

They crashed in the center, creating a spectacular explosion. Amy then used Hyper Voice, while Typhlosion countered with…Focus Blast? BOOOOOM! The explosion was so intense, it even engulfed Mr. Referee's platform. I couldn't see a thing. Was Amy okay? Who won? The dust eventually cleared.

Suddenly, Amy's consciousness blanked out. The device ejected me. No…no, no, no… I ran to the center of the stadium, and found her and Typhlosion. He was really weak, maybe had one HP left, but still stood. And Amy? …She collapsed. "Function ceased! Team Pecha is unable to battle! The winner is Team Pyro!" It was deathly silent in the stands.

"NOOOOOOO!" I shouted. I grabbed her and didn't want to let go. I barely noticed the gelatinous cords dragging us to the healing corner, where Chikorita and Grovyle were waiting, paleing with disbelief. No, not them…I couldn't possibly face them after how I failed to protect her. What would I say to them? The tears I'd been holding back came flowing all at once. I was so ashamed. We should've won. We really should've won. We were so close! It was all my fault. I didn't focus hard enough, right? No…we were more in sync than Grovyle and Chikorita…than anyone. It was my lack of strategy, right? She never ignored my orders, but she couldn't improvise at all either, unlike the two of them.

Yes, I knew we got 2nd place at this event too, but it hurt me so much more than the previous two events simply because I had to deal with the horrible, crushing pain of watching my friends faint, and knowing it was all my fault.

Maybe I never should've entered at all. I never play these stupid competitions unless there's something that makes it worth doing...but no amount of prize money was worth almost killing my friends. Furthermore, I focused on this game more than any competition I ever played in…but I still lost! WHY? …I knew it. No matter how much I kid myself; pure willpower from the underdogs could never defeat raw power and talent, even if the movies say otherwise. I mean, did I really expect Big Amy, a Jigglypuff, to take out a fully powered Typhlosion and an Infernape? I really was delusional. Competition is just way too much for me in general. I'll never do this again for as long as I'll live.

Even when she woke up, I was still sunk into the depths of misery. "Little Amy? Wh-why are you crying? I'm sorry! I…I shouldn't have…"

"No…it's all my fault, Amy. I'm so…so sorry…!" I cried too much to say any more or even realize I was calling her by her real name. Even when Chikorita and Grovyle tried to tell me something, I still couldn't hear them. I knew I was acting in an unacceptable manner. It was just a game…but when I started crying, I could NOT stop. Not until it all came out.

I didn't notice Alex cheering with Typhlosion, Infernape, and Charizard. I didn't notice what everyone else thought of my predicament. I didn't notice the stadium changing back to normal, or all of us being moved back to our original platforms. I didn't notice Mr. Referee mysteriously disappearing back up to the announcer booth in the stands. Even when the scores were being shown, I didn't look. I knew Team Pyro was in first, and we were in second…again. There was no way we'd win this.

"And now let's add up all three scores! Event #1!"

I didn't look. Team Electro won that one.

"Event #2!"

I still didn't look, even when Big Amy wanted me to. Team Hydro won that one.

"Event #3!"

There was no way I would look. We all lost, and it was all my fault.

Suddenly, the audience went crazy. "WHAT THE-! It's a four-way tie!" shouted Mr. Referee. That snapped me out of it. "A four-way tie?" I shouted, finally dropping Big Amy and looking at the cylindrical screen. There it was:

Team Pyro: 1500 points, TIE  
Team Hydro: 1500 points, TIE  
Team Electro: 1500 points, TIE  
Team Pecha: 1500 points, TIE

"NO WAY!" we shouted. How in the world could this have happened? I was sure we'd lose. And my second question was, how were they going to break it?

"Well, then…guess it's time for a tiebreaker event!" announced Mr. Referee. Of **course.** Another event. I practically groaned. I thought I vowed I'd—whatever. The same procedure of roulette with throwing darts as usual. I couldn't look at that again.

"And the final tiebreaker event is the ART CONTEST!"

Huh?

"Did he just say…Art Contest?" whispered Big Amy in shock.

I looked up at the screen in shock. There it was, the words Art Contest with the most dart marks on it. "He did," I gasped in disbelief.

"In the Art Contest, the contestants will select which medium or mediums they want to draw or paint on a piece of 11" by 8½" paper. The picture must be inspired by the most significant event they have ever experienced. Points are earned based on effort, brain activity, quality of draftsmanship, and originality. The team with the four pictures that earn the most points wins the entire contest!" In the meantime, the stadium rearranged to become a giant studio of some sort with 16 cubicles in the center.

I had no idea how they could quantitatively measure effort, brain activity, quality AND originality, but seeing as how they were really accurate with the Dance-Off, I decided not to complain about the integrity of the technology of the future. "YAAAAY!" we cheered. I'm guessing everyone else's jaws dropped in confusion or dismay. We then stared at each other.

"You can paint too?" she asked me in disbelief.

"Uh, yeah…" I thought she would realize it when she found I was left-handed like her. On the other hand, I did a lot of writing yesterday, but not much drawing, except maybe when I made that special outfit for her. Maybe she didn't think that counted as drawing. I grinned, "Don't worry. This is my specialty."

She grinned back. "Mine too. Good luck, Little Amy!"

We nodded at each other. This must've been the luckiest break in the world! I immediately started brainstorming what to draw. No way I could blow this one! And hopefully, with Big Amy's help, we'd definitely win. Grovyle and Chikorita just stared at me in disbelief. I really wish they'd stop doing that—they always made me feel like I uttered a vile cuss word or something.

We arrived at our booths and sat down. "Contestants, choose your media!" shouted Mr. Referee. I scrolled through the options on the hologram screen. Wow. The pictures showed every single tool, from pencils and pens to acrylics, watercolors, pastels, chalks, and all sorts of alien utensils I'm not sure what they were. Finally, I came to my favorite program of choice: the Adobe products. Specifically, Adobe Photoshop. Apparently, they had version 1041.5 or something amazing like that. Just this past month I learned that I could paint environments on Photoshop just as well as, if not better than, Corel Painter. On my holographic computer screen that automatically emerged from the desktop at an angle suitable for my hand, I found that it was way more user-friendly than I remembered it being. I selected both that and a pencil for sketching first.

Mr. Referee then told us, "You have one minute to think of what to draw!" I already knew, so I instead became acquainted with the amazing new interface. Finally, he said, "You have 45 minutes to create the image of your choice. Begin!"

There was no background music this time. Was this some kind of AP test? Because it certainly sounded like one. Didn't matter. Anyway, I then thought back to that cloudy October day back in 7th grade English class, when we were given an assignment to make our own myth. At the time, I was panicking on the inside. I hadn't made an original story since 2nd grade. How was I going to do one then? But then, as I looked out the window of the classroom trailer, I imagined a rainbow against that cloudy sky…and then, it hit me. How come no one ever told a story about why people thought there was a pot of gold at the end? That was the moment. The moment that propelled me to become the writer and artist I was today.

I made a picture capturing that very moment. I used my pencil to draw that exact moment of me in the classroom, staring out the window, amazed of how much I remembered of the trailer it was in (the school was being renovated at the time, so most of us middle-schoolers had to have our classes in trailers). When I finished, I scanned it in. Everything in the painting would be grayscale, except the imaginary rainbow in the background, which lit up my face. Finally, I finished with about five minutes to spare, so I double-checked it until I was satisfied, and then printed it out on that piece of paper.

"Time!" shouted Mr. Referee. "Submit what you've completed."

We submitted our papers into the flashing slot into the wall, and then we went back to our original positions as the stadium returned to normal. Finally, the machine finished scanning over all 16 paintings.

On the monitor, the paintings scrolled slowly, one by one. Team Pyro's pictures came first. They were, well…kinda okay, but…three of them had lots of burn marks on them. They liked to use pencil and charcoal. Team Hydro's were really beautiful; all watercolors. Team Electro's almost blew me away; apparently, they used 3-D software…but it didn't really look that professional, either. Finally, ours came.

First up was Grovyle's, and though he groaned, "Yeah, I never was very good at drawing," the picture really surprised me. It was a painting of when he pulled Dusknoir through the Dimensional Hole back to the future with him, leaving his best friends behind. In little corners, you could see the time his saw the sunrise for the first time, a picture of the original Amy Purima in the midst of the dark world, and more. In short, you could feel the anguish and emotion dripping from the picture, despite the messy scribbles. It was enough to wrench one's heart. He got 496 points.

Next up was Chikorita's, and though she couldn't paint any better than Grovyle, the picture had a slightly higher level of emotional impact. It was of her holding the red bow, littered with vignettes of Amy (as a Jigglypuff) on their various adventures. I suddenly understood just how deeply Chikorita and Grovyle cared for her, and that almost made me feel like I was getting in the way. She got 532 points.

Then it was mine. Pretty powerful, but none of the Pokémon could understand it at all, except maybe Grovyle, and even then, he probably thought it was some kind of paralyzed planet. However, because the quality of my technical draftsmanship clearly surpassed Grovyle's and Chikorita's, I got 735 points for my effort.

Finally, Big Amy's came…and it left me speechless. It was the moment when she had to die and leave Chikorita behind. What really leapt out at me was not just the insane quality, but the dynamic shining angle she used and the way she manipulated the background that really underscored the emotional intensity. Her score? 1,032 points…a new record, apparently. I gasped. Wait a second…her's was better than mine? How?

The screen reverted to the scores for all four teams. We held our breaths as the points were counted up.

Team Pyro: 2532 points, 4th place  
Team Hydro: 3043 points, 2nd place  
Team Electro: 2892 points, 3rd place  
Team Pecha: 4295 points, 1st place

"And the overall winner is…Team Pecha!"

I could not believe my ears. But there it was. We were undeniably the winners. Then it finally hit us. "YAAAAAY!" we cheered, all four of us jumping up and down. We won! We won the prize money! We were saved! Now we just earned a few more days to survive and find a job! But what really surprised me was what happened next. All three team leaders came to congratulate me!

"Good job. I was amazed you found the secret of that race, too!" said Peter.

"I loved your dance! You really **did **do a good job!" said Cassie.

"Dude, you almost beat me. No one ever came that close to beating me in a battle like that!" said Alex.

I was so totally blown away by their sportsmanship; I just had to say something too. "And you all could be great artists too! It's a skill, not a talent, did you know that? All you have to do is just keep practicing!"

Our platform rose from off the ground and hovered to the center. The hologram projection base started rising and connected with our platform. From where Mr. Referee was, he stepped on a flying platform and flew to our area. He stepped off, carrying a card with the prize money and a microphone of some sort.

"Congratulations, Team Pecha! Could you hold out your passports, please?" he requested. We did. He inserted the card into the slot in each of our cards, giving us 10,000 credits…for each one of us. Yes! "Do any of you have anything to say?" he asked, holding the microphone out.

"It was fun!" said Big Amy.

"Yeah, we really had lots of fun!" agreed Chikorita.

Grovyle declined to comment. I wasn't sure why. Maybe he couldn't think of anything at the moment.

The only thing I could think of saying was, "Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU, everyone!" and just left it at that. Better not let them know about our financial situation.

"Well, I sure hope to see you in our future contests someday!" he said, stepping back onto the flying platform and hopping back in his official announcement booth. I smiled, looking out at the cheering crowd. We survived. We survived! I was so grateful that we could win even when all hope seemed lost. It **was **like a movie after all.

I then took the opportunity to apologize. "Grovyle? …I'm sorry."

"Huh? For what?"

"I did my best, but…you all fainted…"

"Oh, that! Well, I won't hold it against you. You did your best, okay?"

I smiled again, almost crying because I was so grateful. "…Okay. Thanks, Grovyle." From the moment we met, I could feel that it would be much harder to win his trust compared to Big Amy and Chikorita. I don't know how to describe how ecstatic I was that I was finally starting to earn it.

Just then, at the apex of our happiness, the titanium ceiling exploded as if someone was shooting at it from the outside with lasers. It was going to land right on us. But Grovyle's quick reflexes enabled him to jump up, kick most of the debris away, and save us. As for the three other teams, they commanded their Pokémon to knock the rest of the debris away from the crowd. The crowd froze. Light poured in from above. And two insectoid creatures' heads popped up from outside.

The taller, thinner one exclaimed, "Whoa-ho! Dere u r!" and was pointing at us. Pointing at **me.**

The shorter, fatter one looked behind himself and shouted, "Hey, guys! Guys! Wii found dem!"

The two of them, as well as a whole swarm, jumped in and descended on us. I wasn't entirely sure, because I never played much of the Metroid Prime series but I had a pretty good idea that all of those creatures were the Galactic Federation's and Samus' sworn enemies, the Space Pirates.

And for whatever reason…they were all after us.

To be continued…

**Coming up next: AAAAGH! They just HAD to come in right when we won. WHY? We were so tired! But how will we fare when a really angry Samus Aran shows up? Does she discover my secret at last? I'll have to figure out how to deal with that later, though. What I'm most concerned about is our first encounter with THEM…**Teh Pirates Who Don't Do Nothin'**!**


	8. Teh Pirates Who Don't Do Nothin'

Chapter 8: Teh Pirates Who Don't Do Nothin'

"AAAAAAAAH!" we shouted as the whole swarm of Space Pirates descended upon us. It didn't help that we were standing on the highest platform and were closest to the ceiling where they just burst in. But they didn't land on us; they surrounded us on the edges of our platform. Immediately, Big Amy, Chikorita, and Grovyle bunched up in the middle facing different directions, trapping me in the center. The Space Pirates grinned evilly at us and each activated some sort of weird puck-like devices. I wondered if they were flares or bombs or whatever.

"You ready to fight?" Grovyle whispered to us.

"Yeah!" shouted Big Amy and Chikorita.

"Uuuh…um…" I stammered. Fight? FIGHT? I never got past yellow belt in Tae Kwon Do thanks to that one full-contact sparring incident. I was 12 at the time and finally realized that I couldn't fool myself into thinking I could be a kick-butt fighter girl when I clearly didn't have the skills or the personality to do so. But three years (I started when I was 9) of practice allowed me to remember a few things. I lowered my center of gravity via the horse stance and brought my fists up, facing a random direction that the three of them weren't. I still remembered basic punching, and kicks such as the jump kick, the axe kick, and the roundhouse kick, but to be honest, I wasn't sure how effective they would be against the Space Pirates' futuristic weaponry.

"Capture dem," ordered the tallest of them.

Mr. Referee came out of nowhere again and announced, "Then it's agreed! Metafighters ready? ROBATTLE!" I wanted to protest that it wasn't a Robattle at all, but the official Robattle music started playing again and cut me off.

Suddenly, Team Pyro, Team Hydro, and Team Electro fried, froze, and electrocuted the Space Pirates around us, respectively. But more started pouring in. "Hey, guys! Jump off!" shouted Cassie.

Big Amy, Chikorita, and Grovyle had no problem with that. But me? "I-I can't! It's too high up!" I shouted. After all, we were only a mere 120 feet up in the air. No way I could've jumped without breaking something.

Grovyle just slapped his face in exasperation, but Charizard volunteered, "I'll help." He flew up to my level and let me climb on, just barely evading a Space Pirate slashing at me. The guy tried to follow, but Charizard fried him for his efforts. I held on as hard as I could as he quickly descended to the ground. Yikes. No wonder I didn't like roller coasters—that falling feeling was almost too much for me to handle. I jumped off as soon as we reached the ground. "Thanks!" I shouted, racing to my friends.

"No problem! Look out for yourself, okay?" he said. He then let Alex jump on before taking off into the air to fry more Space Pirates. Wow. It was obvious that Alex had way more experience flying on Charizard. He could've been a fighter pilot in-training for all I knew.

As for the audience members, I was surprised to hear not as much screaming as I was expecting; turns out, they were exiting quickly and efficiently. Within 5 minutes of the battle, all of them had evacuated safely thanks to the easy exit design of the stands. On the ground, Team Hydro, Team Electro, Infernape, and Typhlosion were all fighting Space Pirates, but the greatest concentration was around us. I could only watch in awe as Grovyle used Leaf Blade to take down a whole row of them, and Chikorita's Vine Whip tripped one backwards, leading the ones behind the guy to fall like dominoes. Finally, I had to cover my ears whenever Big Amy unleashed one of her Hyper Voices. That YOOM…TAH really was loud, but defeated more than either of my teammates combined. And me? I just held Big Amy as a Hyper Voice shield and did my best not to get hit by a stray laser.

"Little Amy! Why aren't you fighting?" she shouted.

"I-I can't! Humans—I mean, mind-reading aliens aren't good at this stuff at all!" I replied. As a laser blasted a chunk of concrete right next to be, I realized the whole situation felt exactly like those times in P.E. class when all 40 or so classmates of mine were smacking volleyballs all over the gym. No place to run; no place to hide; I had no choice but to stay there rooted in despair, hoping not to get hit in the skull until it was over. But this time, it was 100 times worse. The volleyballs this time were deadly lasers that blew holes in the stadium; the players were Space Pirates who didn't even try to avoid hitting innocent bystanders. And there was almost no chance of survival if even one laser hit its mark.

Right before a full-scale panic attack could hit me, there was a break in the action. The tall, thin one and the short, fat one jumped down from the ceiling, landed on the platform, jumped down from it, and landed right in front of us, sniggering and chuckling. They looked like the leaders of this whole operation. I was going to say something, but Grovyle was quicker.

"Who are you? What do you want?" he shouted.

"Whoa-ho! Simple. Wii gonna pwn u n00bs!" announced the tall, thin one.

"& bring u 2 teh Boss-Man. He needz u 4 som'thin," concluded the short, fat one.

Big Amy and Chikorita totally freaked out. "AAAAAH! The meanie-butts!"

"The meanie-butts?" I gasped. "Wait—what are they doing here?"

Grovyle asked, "The meanie-butts? You mean Team Skull? These guys aren't them. Last time I saw Team Skull, Wigglytuff and I socked them in Brine Cave."

"Dat's right! I dunno who dis Team Skull is, but whut I know iz Wii way more l33t-er den dem! LOL!" bragged the tall, thin guy. They continued laughing.

"& Wii r—oh w8! Here she comes!"

We looked up. Turned out it was just right then that Samus' purple ship came in. For a second, I thought she was going to crash-land, but right when the ship was about 10 feet away, she made the ship slow down enough to land safely. Wow. She had amazing reflexes. What was even more amazing was how she swerved to avoid the giant platform. But she didn't come out the usual elevator way. She opened a secret hatch out of the ship's ceiling and leapt out, performing a perfect spin jump. She somersaulted in the air so many times that if I were to try it, I'd become hopelessly disoriented by the fifth spin. She landed in front of us and faced the meanie-butts.

"Samus—I mean, Ms. Aran! What are you doing here?" I asked in total disbelief.

"Yeah, weren't you going to leave us here forever?" asked Chikorita.

She glared, silencing us. "Plans change," she answered curtly.

The meanie-butts started laughing again. Zark taunted, "Ha-ha, u slow! Did sum1 haxor yer Speed Booster again? [LMAO]"

"Yeh! Wii were gonna pwn dem 4 u. So y r u here? w8, w8, don't tell me. Now dat yer a has-been-famous-but-now-n00bish-accursed-hunter, dey made u babysit n00bs! HA! Babysitting! LOLOLOLOLOL!"

Samus shot several power beam attacks at them, but no use. Their hexagonal reflector shields (which I'm sure they ripped off from Fox McCloud) just bounced the shots right back at her. It might've hurt, but she didn't fall down. I whispered, "Wait. What do they mean, they're gonna…pwn…us for you?"

She glared at me and muttered, "That's what you're going to tell me when we're through with this." I just stared in confusion. What was going on in here?

Grovyle glared even harder. I guessed that seeing how hurt Big Amy and Chikorita were was starting to affect him, and it took all his effort to restrain himself from using Leaf Blade on the meanie-butts. He growled, "You punks still haven't answered my question. Who are you?"

Finally, they stopped laughing enough to speak. "Whoa-ho! I'm Zark!" said the tall, thin guy.

"I'm Zork!" said the short, fat guy.

"& boys? Time 4 teh l33t theme song!" shouted Zark.

Some other Space Pirates suddenly cut the Robattle music off. They pulled out random instruments and started playing. Zark and Zork activated their jetpacks and flew up to the high platform. They then broke into song and dance. Specifically, the can-can dance. Let me put it this way; it looks good if a human performs said dance, but Space Pirates? Let's just say that I didn't know whether it was hilarious or disturbing.

_Wii r teh pirates who don't do nothin'…_  
_Wii just stay home, & lie around!_  
_& if u ask us 2 do nothin'…_  
_Wii just tell u… _[dramatic pause]_ …Wii don't do nothin'!_

"Hey, wait a second," I whispered. "They're getting it all wrong. That song is called The Pirates Who Don't Do **Anything**, and they're ripping it off of Veggietales—OW!"

Zark apparently shot a laser right next to me, causing the ground to explode right there, and the debris hit my leg. I was stunned. How could he hear my whispering? "Hey, shut up!" He continued,

_Weeeell, I've never hoisted a mainstay & I've never swabbed teh poop deck_  
_& I've never veered teh starboard 'cause I've never driven at all,_  
_& I've never walked teh gangplank & I've never pwned dem parrots_  
_& I've never robbed a Gaijin City mall!_

[Both of them] _Wii r teh pirates who don't do nothin'…_  
_Wii just stay home, & lie around!_  
_& if u ask us 2 do nothin'…_  
_Wii just tell u… _[dramatic pause]_ …Wii don't do nothin'!_

[Zork's part]_ &…I've…never plucked a rooster & I'm not 2 l33t ping-pong_  
_& I've never thrown mah mashed potatoes up against a wall,_  
_& I've never pwned a chipmunk & I've never scored sum' bling-bling,_  
_& I've never robbed a Gaijin City mall!_

[Both of them] _Wii r teh pirates who don't do nothin'…_  
_Wii just stay home, & lie around!_  
_& if u ask us 2 do nothin'…_  
_Wii just tell u… _[dramatic pause]_ …Wii don't do nothin'!_

At the end of the song, they posed as their fellow pirates shot fireworks from behind. Samus, Team Pyro, Team Hydro, Team Electro, Grovyle, Chikorita, Big Amy, and I just stood there, staring in complete confusion and disbelief. Since when do Space Pirates break into song and dance? Aren't they supposed to be, like, sadistic space killers? What disturbed me the most was how their voices were in perfect pitch. I wondered if someone taught them, and if so, who. On the side, I heard Raichu snicker under his breath, "They **are** doing something right now. They're standing there looking like total idiots."

Mr. Referee tapped them on the shoulder. "Uh, this is a Robattle, not American Idol—"

"Yer not teh Boss-Man of me, ol' timer!" shouted Zark. And he kicked the referee off the platform! Luckily, Charizard caught him in time.

"Dat's right! Now remember dis—Wii r 2 l33t 4 teh rulez!" agreed Zork.

Mr. Referee became really angry…His eyes almost glowed yellow as he growled, "Break the rules, will you? Attacking the referee is against Robattle Regulation 35, and violators will receive punishment of the highest degree!"

"Like whut?" asked Zark contemptuously.

"Oooo…Wii scaaared!" taunted Zork. The two of them started laughing.

* * *

_High above in orbit around Capital Planet is a satellite with a long, rod-shaped device attached to its end. It charges up a powerful beam attack as Mr. Referee explains its purpose to everyone in the stadium._

Mr. Referee: Rule-breakers like you force the Robattle Rules Committee to take drastic action! We've built a special satellite called Penalty Box and launched it into space! This orbiting defense mechanism helps me, Mr. Referee, administer swift, brutal justice to violent punks like you! Hahaha! Don't say I didn't warn you.

_Finally, the Penalty Box fully charges up and fires its laser to the Pokéathlon Contest Stadium below in Gaijin City. This is a smart laser—it expertly dodges all obstacles like space debris, flying cars, and even people in order to arrive at its intended location._

Imaginary SFX: I'm-a FIRIN' MAH LASER!

* * *

Even after Mr. Referee's threatening speech, the meanie-butts continued to laugh like crazy from their high-up platform. Didn't their voices ever get tired? Jeez, I could swear they were going to die laughing at that rate. But more importantly…I remembered that Mr. Referee acted the exact same way during one random episode of Medabots, not an episode from the Saturday morning cartoons I was used to watching, but a filler episode from Youtube. I knew what would happen next; in a few seconds, a tranquilizer dart would stab the meanie-butts right in the neck, and they would realize their mistake. Everyone else, obviously, had no idea what would happen next and so looked at Mr. Referee like he was crazy.

As it turned out, my prediction was completely off.

KA-BLOOIE! Instead of a tranquilizer dart, it was huge laser. It hit the meanie-butts on the platform square on, and sent them flying into the air all the way into the stratosphere, just like Team Rocket. I'm serious, it sounded exactly like this: Wheeeeeeee…ding!

Stunned silence. We all stepped back from Mr. Referee in total awe. Some of the remaining Space Pirates in the stadium finally seemed to snap out of it. All they could say was, "Whut…teh heck…?"

"And you all should remember this, too! Don't mess with me, Mr. Referee!"

They all skedaddled out of the stadium. Most of them activated their jetpacks and flew out of there, but some just preferred to run for it. I guessed that their ships were waiting for them outside. One of them even had the temerity to retort, "Oh yeh? Oh yeh! Well…*mommy*…" but left it at that.

We were still stunned. "Satellite, huh?" said Electivire.

"So that's what it is…Note to self: Don't mess with satellites," noted Chikorita.

"Good to know," agreed Amy.

"Uh, yeah…thanks," I said to Mr. Referree.

He grinned and gave us all a thumbs-up before chasing after the retreating Space Pirates. We stood there, frozen in disbelief for a long time, before the ludicrousness of the situation finally hit us. (The sheer number of cultural references probably had something to do with it.) Once Big Amy and I doubled over in laughter, everyone soon followed suit. Maybe even Samus, for all I knew.

* * *

All three teams were amazed beyond belief when they found that the super-famous bounty hunter Samus Aran knew us, but I had to wave off their questions with, "It's a long story." At that point, she growled to us, "Get in the ship. Now." What could we do? We had no choice. We went on ahead while Samus stayed behind to convince the three teams to go back home (maybe she bribed them with autographs or something). At least we were able to quickly duck back into the contestants' room to grab our backpacks while she was distracted.

The moment we arrived in the cockpit, Adam sputtered in disbelief, "Amy Purima? What the heck happened to you?"

She shot, "Oh yeah. No one told me how nasty being a human would be, so I turned back. So there!"

"I don't understand…is the DNA restoration device…defective?" he stammered.

None of us could come to any conclusion, so we just sat there silently. Even I had no idea how such a device could possibly be faulty. Finally, through the window, as we saw Samus coming back to the ship, Chikorita broke the silence. "S-so why do you think Ms. Aran is mad at us?"

"I have no idea…" I replied. My teeth were chattering too. I really had no idea, either. Honest. I mean, just two seconds ago, I was scared to death that I'd be vaporized. Then a second later, we were practically laughing our heads off from the ludicrousness of Teh Pirates Who Don't Do Nothin'. Now we were scared to death again wondering why in the world Samus was so angry. Why did she even bother finding us again, anyway? Arrgh. I swear, if those mood swings kept up, I was going to act like a real teenager before long. Yikes. I wasn't sure if I was ready to let that happen yet.

"What do your storytelling instincts say?" asked Big Amy.

"That there are way too many changes in tone for this to be an actual story," I replied.

"I mean, what do your storytelling instincts say about why Samus is mad?"

"Hmm…" I thought. "She said that her plans changed. Maybe something happened at headquarters—?"

The elevator came down, interrupting me, and a few seconds later, it came back up with a silent yet really ticked-off Samus. She quickly walked up to Adam's monitor and snapped at us, "Hand over your passports!"

Without a word, we did.

We watched as she typed out some commands on the console and made a card reader appear. She swiped our passports through them, and some numbers appeared on the screen. As we saw how the numbers were changing in relation to our passport pictures, even the three Pokémon could tell that Samus was transferring 90% of all our money into her account, leaving us with about 1,000 credits each…again. "HEY!" we all shouted at once.

"What's the meaning of this?" demanded Grovyle.

"Give it back! That's our money!" shouted Chikorita.

"And we worked so…hard for it…" sobbed Big Amy. So did I, more or less.

She didn't respond; instead, without warning, she threw our passports back at us. Then she said, in a really cold voice, "Okay. Explain yourselves."

"HUH?" was all we could say.

"Don't play dumb! There must be a reason the Space Pirates want you so badly—reason enough for High Command to fire me and replace me with those—Zark and Zork creeps!"

"WHAT? They fired you?" I exclaimed in dismay.

"The meanie-butts replaced you?" shouted Big Amy and Chikorita at once.

She glared at us coldly, getting really impatient. "Yes…and my career was as precarious as it was…until you four stowed away and got me fired!"

"Us? No way…" I paled. A million thoughts flew threw my head, but mostly those of wondering how the heck it was our fault they fired her.

Chikorita piped up, "But you didn't have to be like meanie Chatot and take all of our—!"

Samus interrupted her. "And because it's your fault that I'm fired, don't you think it makes some sense for you to pay back what you owe? There has to be something dangerous about you guys, and you know it! Now what is it?" she fumed.

We just sat there, at a loss for words. Even the usually steely-focused Grovyle had trouble formulating an answer. "I'm sorry, Samus…I honestly can't think of any reason—"

She practically exploded as she shouted, "Maybe THIS will refresh your memory!" She slammed her left non-arm cannon hand on the monitor, bringing up a data file. It was Amy Vee Purima's, and there was a particular line that was highlighted. I gasped. "No way!"

"Ah-HA! You DO know something!" said Samus.

Big Amy, Chikorita, and Grovyle turned to face me in confusion (or was it dismay?). "What? What's it say?" asked Chikorita.

Samus explained for me. "It says here that your friend Amy Purima died on August 23, 2499. This is the year 2510. Now explain to me why she is still standing here today!" she demanded, pointing at Big Amy.

We were completely speechless.

Except for Chikorita. She shouted, "Amy? You're a g-g-g-g-g—g-g-g-g-g-GHOST?"

"No, Chikorita, I'm not! I can't be…I just…can't…" she argued, but trailed off weakly and looked at herself more carefully, wondering if maybe it was true.

"How come even YOU don't know?" accused Samus.

"I thought I told you! I lost my memory two years ago! I don't remember a thing!" she replied.

Grovyle did his best to come up with an answer. "N-no…that's wrong…we might've changed history, but she never died. I saw to that. So…how…? Maybe the record's wrong…" He trailed off weakly, looking really pained.

Samus shook her head and snorted, "Faulty memories…changing history…ghosts…you creatures come up with some pretty implausible explanations. But your accusation of the records being wrong is the most ridiculous excuse I've ever heard! The Galactic Federation runs the record itself! It is flawless! It has a 100% success rate when cross-referenced!" She glared at Big Amy. "But that's beside the point. The point is, the evidence is undeniable. The Space Pirates are after Puffball Girl here. Now give me one good reason I shouldn't hand her over to them and **get my job back****!**" she shouted, reaching for her as quick as lighting.

"NO!" shouted Grovyle and Chikorita, using Leaf Blade and Headbutt to smack Samus back into the monitor.

"H-hey, no fighting in the ship!" Adam tried to assert.

They didn't listen. They continued fighting each other, and I could only watch in dismay, hoping not to get caught in the crossfire.

Adam took a deep breath and shouted, as loud as he could, "I said NO FIGHTING!"

The volume of his voice finally made them stop. Seizing the pause in the action, Adam went into full Galactic Federation superior officer mode as he continued, "Now listen up! Samus, I'm still your superior officer. And Chikorita, Grovyle, and both of you Amys; I have seniority, so that makes me your superior officer too. And so help me, you will all answer to me when I say, NO FIGHTING!"

Reluctantly, they stopped fighting and glared at each other from opposite sides of the room. The standoff was intense. I could feel the thick-as-blood tension in the air. I knew I had to say something, or they would not only ignore Adam again, they fight each other to the death. Finally, it clicked in my head. I remembered how I wrote the same thing happening to Kana in the last chapter of The Heroes of Time. I had no choice. I had to reveal everything I knew.

Chikorita glanced at the amount of money left on her passport and huffed, "Meanie Chatot…"

That did it. Even if Samus had no idea who this meanie Chatot person was, the contemptuous tone of Chikorita's voice was enough to set her off. Right as she started to charge at Chikorita, I stood up, ran in-between them, and shouted, "Guys, STOP! I-I think I can explain!"

Samus stopped and lowered her arm cannon. "Okay, kid. Start talking. We're all ears."

I took a deep breath. Here goes nothing… "It's all because my friends here changed history. In the original timeline, the G.F.S. Axiatomic Link abandoned Amy Purima and her family on Planet Portania on that exact day, August 23, 2499. Only, it wasn't Planet Portania as we know it now. It was a paralyzed planet. Nothing moved, and it was always dark, so the Axiatomic Link's captain, AUTO, thought it was a good place to abandon them, all because messing with time was against regulations. But now that my friends here changed history, they prevented Planet Portania from ever being paralyzed. So when her parents broke the rules again, in this timeframe, AUTO couldn't use Planet Portania today. It's too alive and such. So he dumped them all on a random asteroid…where all three, or maybe seven, of them died from suffocation…on the August 23, 2499 of today!"

Everyone stared at me in shock. I shut my eyes. Now they knew just how much I knew.

"Interesting…" said Samus.

Grovyle was furious. "How…in the world…do you dare know so much…you filthy HUMAN?" I flinched, terrified that he'd vent his anger out on me.

"She's a mind-reading alien! She can read minds!" Chikorita piped up. I nodded in earnest, hoping that would work.

It didn't. Grovyle patted Chikorita's head and explained, to my dismay, "Chikorita…I know humans. I've known our Amy all my life. And I know her well enough to say, for a fact…that **humans cannot read minds any more than us Grass Pokémon can breathe fire!**"

"What? REALLY?" shouted Big Amy.

"Little Amy…is that true?" whispered Chikorita.

I squeezed my eyes shut and turned away. "…y…yeah…" I whimpered. My heart was pounding so furiously, I wished I could disappear, run away, and never come back.

Grovyle seized my shoulders. "Look at me when I'm talking to you! You still haven't answered my question. How do you know so much about us?" he hissed.

I hated it whenever someone said that to me. That was the hardest obstacle I had to overcome when I was 12, and even today, it was still relatively hard to do. It took all my might to look into his eyes without breaking down. I had no idea his eyes could look so…lizard-like, so heart-stoppingly terrifying. How was I going to explain it in a way that made sense? Finally, I remembered; the video games I happened to pack along in my backpack. I unzipped it, took out my pink Nintendo DS Lite, inserted the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky game card in it, and handed it over to him. "Here. Play this," I said, squeezing my eyes shut in shame.

* * *

I had to teach him how to operate it and play Special Episode #5, but other than that, all I could do was sit back and wait. I heard him say things like, "This is exactly what happened to me when…!" and, "Ew. No way. I never said anything that cheesy," but otherwise, he was oddly quiet. Big Amy and Chikorita, however, kept pestering me with questions, like why there was a Skitty instead of a Jigglypuff as the main character. Samus and Adam just watched such primitive technology with wonder, especially my Game Boy Advance game Metroid Fusion.

Finally, Grovyle finished his analysis. "Okay…now explain why the heck we all appear in this magical electric device, human."

By that time, I finally figured out what to say. "Where I come from, you guys, Pokémon, Ms. Aran and Mr. Malkovich—everyone here—only exist in these video games. Wait—Zoroark! I must be in another dimension right now. He must've pulled me in as Palkia! 'Cause I noticed…ever since Samus' ship landed on the soccer field of my elementary school, everything I've always thought of as fiction suddenly became real…I kept thinking it was all a dream, or maybe I've died…but this is no dream. I can feel it. Now I'm here, stuck in this place that happens to be exactly like all the video games I've ever played…and maybe I really should find a way out…"

"Who's Zoroark?" asked Chikorita.

"He's a Dark-type shape-shifter Pokémon of some sort. He's so new, even I don't know much about him. But I do know he can turn himself into anyone, especially legendary Pokémon. He was the Palkia that appeared in my dream and dragged me here. He was the Dialga that brought us here to the future. That was him, guys! That wasn't your Dialga! But…if that's true…then this isn't the real 2510…and that wasn't the real 2010...and you never met my real mom or dad…or even my real brother…!" I started to cry.

"And why didn't you tell us this before?" asked Big Amy, trying her best to console me.

"It was too much to explain. I figured it all out just now. And…you wouldn't have believed me…"

"Just like Dusknoir…" Chikorita whispered.

I winced. "No! Don't compare me to him! I swear I won't hurt you guys! You're my friends, aren't you?"

Finally, Grovyle calmed down. "…Fine. That will do. But I'll be watching you **very** closely, human…" His suspicious glare made me shudder. From the moment he came along for the ride, I could feel that he was much harder to win over than Big Amy and Chikorita. And now, not only did whatever trust he had in me get completely blown away, I could feel that my already low chances of me regaining his trust just plummeted to near zero.

Samus calmed down too. "Interesting…you're from another dimension…I never knew it was possible."

Adam piped up. "Hey, kid. Funny you'd mention the G.F.S. Axiatomic Link. It was originally made to fly people from here to Planet K-2L in order to repair the Earth colony that was destroyed 22 years ago. Unfortunately, after several trips, Space Pirates attacked the ship, and now no one wants to colonize the planet anymore. We now know that it became a Space Pirate hotspot. The ship has been floating around in the planet's orbit for 5 years now."

"You think there might be video records on board, Adam?" asked Samus, perking up. I cringed. I already knew for a fact that Samus lived on K-2L back then, and she was only 3 years old when the colony was destroyed. But I wasn't about to explain to everyone how she survived and blah blah blah, lest she point her Arm Cannon at my head or something.

"Fairly sure. If the Space Pirates didn't loot them all."

Samus sighed. "…Then there's only one way to find out," she concluded in finality. She started up the engine. She addressed us, "Guess what, kids? You probably won't need all that money after all." The three Pokémon groaned in chagrin.

"Wait, wait! I need a spacesuit, right? 'Cause I bought one," I said.

"Perfect, kid. Now put it on."

I froze. "Wait a second…don't I need a changing room-?"

Samus pressed a button attached to the tag in the back I never knew was there. Suddenly, a bright flash of light engulfed me, and the next thing I knew, I was wearing it. It covered over the sailor outfit I was just wearing. "…Oh," was all I could utter, stunned.

She sighed. "*pfft*. Of course 21st century people would worry about changing rooms. Even if they're from another dimension." I just stood there, amazed at how the technology of the future could replicate magical girl transformation sequences so perfectly.

Big Amy, Chikorita, and Grovyle slipped on their Space Travel Orbs, covering themselves with a clear gelatinous mold that fitted their bodies. The ship rose out of the stadium. We looked out the windows to see that we flew out just in time. The next Pokéathlon Contest was starting up.

I gulped. "Axiatomic Link…here we go." Guess I was going to see what it looked like in real life.

To be continued…

**Coming up next: We explore the wreckage of the Axiatomic Link to confirm the facts of our wild story and finally get to see the full extent of Samus' mad platforming skills. But going back there means reliving what I wrote in the first chapter of The Heroes of Time. And what if something terrible happens? There's going to be **Panic Aboard the Axiatomic Link…Again!


	9. Panic Aboard the Axiatomic Link, Again!

Chapter 9: Panic Aboard the Axiatomic Link…Again!

I was SO bored.

Not to mention guilty, terrified, and desperate for any way possible to ease the tension I could feel in the ship. Not counting the brain-in-the-computer Adam Malkovich, there were five of us, me, Big Amy, Chikorita, Grovyle, and Samus, all crowded in a little spaceship traveling to the supposedly wrecked remains of a certain Galactic Federation flagship, the Axiatomic Link. The fact that everyone now knew that I knew information about all of them on the scale of an omniscient narrator was responsible for the eerie silence. Good thing I asked Big Amy if we could trade our collections of drawings we made. Even better that we even remembered to collect our drawings from the Pokéathlon Contest before we left.

So there I was, sitting on the ground, carefully examining all of Big Amy's paintings, while she was examining all of my drawings. On one hand, I wasn't really that surprised since I already knew she made them, yet on the other hand, seeing them clearly in real life was so much more captivating than when I described them in prose. Every picture (the Time Gear ones especially) had such a brilliance, intensity and level of detail that I realized I could never match in my art. In other words, even though she was younger than me...she was a much better artist than me too.

I had no idea why.

Just then, I heard her gasp. "What?" I asked.

"Call me crazy, but…I just get this feeling that these thingies feel familiar."

"Familiar how?"

"It's the same feeling at those times when my Dimensional Scream—Hey wait a second! I haven't gotten one of those in…since…"

"That time with Master Wigglytuff's Perfect Apple from the graduation exam?" I figured I might as well be honest with what I knew.

"Oh yeah! Wow…a year…"

Grovyle finally decided to say something. "Amy, it doesn't work in the future, remember? But SHE knows that, of course."

I sighed. "I dunno…I always thought that it didn't work because time stood still, so to speak. But seeing how it's not activating at all here either…I guess you're right."

Meanwhile, Adam asked Samus, "What the heck is a Dimensional Scream?"

"Don't ask me. Ask Miss Omniscient person here," said Samus.

So I had to explain it to him. As I did, I wanted to scream in frustration. Everyone was being so cold to me! Well, except maybe Big Amy and Chikorita…but still! True, maybe I'd feel extremely creeped out if I met a total stranger who could tell me every single event that ever happened in my life in glorious detail. But at least I could always use him to help me convey exactly what I was like back then, especially if he was a good person. On the other hand, none of these people were exactly looking to write their memoirs in said glorious detail. They were too busy living in the moment. Translation: I was totally screwed. I sighed. I already missed the fun times we had in Gaijin City. Somehow, I was going to have to find some way to convince them that I was a good person, too.

* * *

"Little Amy! Wake up!"

"Ugh…huh?" Big Amy was shaking me awake again. Unfortunately, I was so tired from the Pokéathlon Contest and got so bored that I couldn't help falling asleep. I rubbed my eyes and pushed myself up from the steel floor, feeling really sore in the head. Ow…my sinuses haven't felt this nauseated since the last time I took a nap in the afternoon (which was only a few days ago, as in June 22, 2010), and I chastised myself for falling asleep at all.

"I think we're here," said Chikorita, pointing at the window with her leaf.

Big Amy jumped on my head again, and Grovyle's glare from across the room deepened. I cringed. I wished he still wasn't so mad at me; I wished that confession was all a bad dream. Trying (without much luck) to shake off that sick feeling, I clambered to the window next to Chikorita and looked out.

The G.F.S. Axiatomic Link was floating in orbit around Planet K-2L below, in the midst of asteroids and other space debris. It looked like an attractive combination of the Axiom, the Metamo Ark, and the G.F.S. Valhalla, spaceships I remembered from Wall-E, Meteos, and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, respectively. Only it wasn't very attractive; there was a massive hole from where I guessed the Space Pirates attacked it, and the ship's outer hull had cracks and disfigurements all over it. It was amazing that Samus was able to find a place to land at all. It was in an abandoned hangar with the airlock doors permanently ripped off.

Adam finally said something to break the silence. "Lady, I've downloaded the map for you."

"Thanks, Adam."

"Okay, people. It's about -50 degrees Celsius out there, and I don't detect any oxygen or nitrogen either. You know what that means."

"What?" asked Big Amy and Chikorita.

"You'll need space suits," curtly explained Samus.

Big Amy, Chikorita, and Grovyle all double-checked the integrity of the Oxygen Orb membranes around themselves, and seeing them do so made me double-check that the oxygen level in my space suit was at 100% too. It was.

Samus explained to me, "Okay, so here's the deal, Miss Omniscient. Our mission is to get to the commander's room, find the security videos from August 23, 2499, and verify if what you said was true. Any objections?"

"Any objections, Lady?" Adam piped in, sounding like he was trying to stifle a laugh.

"Be serious, Adam," snapped Samus.

"No sir," I quickly replied. Then for good measure, I added to Samus, "No ma'am."

"Then let's go. And don't expect me to babysit you or anything."

Without another word, the five of us squeezed into that elevator and went out through the bottom. The moment we stepped out, we all started floating, totally freaking the Pokémon out.

"AAAAH! Wh-what is this?" they shouted in dismay. Their arms flailed wildly, but to no effect.

"There's no gravity here to pin us to the ground," I quickly explained. "There's supposed to be no gravity in space, and the ship probably had artificial gravity. But…Wh-whoa! I can't move either!" I was a pretty good swimmer, but no matter what strokes I tried, nothing worked. I couldn't move anywhere.

Samus sighed. "Amateurs." She shot Power Beams from her Arm Cannon, and the force made her fly in the opposite direction of the blasts. Turns out she was aiming for the square panel device next to a door on the wall. The impact made the panel light up, and the door opened. What do you know? The doors still worked. She then used the beam to propel herself behind us and kick us straight through the door, following after us.

"WAGH!" we shouted when we fell to the ground.

"Hey, I'm not floating anymore!" exclaimed Big Amy.

"Why? What happened?" asked Chikorita in dismay.

"I think it's artificial gravity. It still works in here," I explained.

Samus landed next to us. "Of course you'd know about it. I bet you also know about the time I investigated the G.F.S. Valhalla too, huh? Now let's go." Aargh. Samus had no idea how right she was, which made me cringe even more. See, I watched my brother played all of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and beat the game. Maybe there were Metroids here too? Nah. They had to be extinct by now if Samus was traveling with brain-in-a-computer Adam Malkovich.

She turned on the map of the place. Of course, since it was in her visor, only she could see it, and so led the way to the commander's room. Grovyle covered us from behind in full vigilance mode. Chikorita walked as close to me as she possible, practically pushing me and (almost) bogging my legs down. I could tell she was terrified as I was, maybe even more so, yet at the same time, trying to convince herself that this was her first really exciting space adventure. Big Amy stayed where she was, though she looked up at the leaky ceiling a lot, clutching my head more tightly than usual. It was supposed to feel soft and comfy, but now it was starting to actually hurt a little, sort of like wearing a really tight scrunchie in my hair all day. Or a headband, for that matter. My heart raced every time I heard a weird noise, but it was always nothing.

We walked through the maze of corridors, climbed ladders, and rode on elevators. About halfway there, though, a slimy, spiky, eye-speckled multi-tentacled green slug-like creature I recognized from Missile Mouse suddenly burst in on us through the wall. Luckily, Samus and Grovyle dispatched it in half a second. Big Amy, Chikorita, and I just stared at the lifeless, quivering monstrosity, breathing hard, clutching to each other, trying to calm our rapidly beating hearts.

"I don't do many escort missions," said Samus to the three of us. "So just consider yourselves lucky that you're still alive."

Grovyle said, "Huh. Personally, I got used to this a long time ago. You guys aren't dying on my watch."

"Good to know," replied Samus. Did just she smile at him for a second there? Maybe she was starting to respect the guy.

I didn't have much time to reflect on it; we had to move. Luckily, we didn't need Grovyle's extra vigilance, because we didn't encounter anything else on the way to the commander's room. But at the same time…

"Hey, Little Amy? Out of curiosity, what are your storytelling instincts telling you about what we might find up there?" asked Chikorita.

"Uuuh…my storytelling instincts? Why?" I said.

"Yeah, since my Dimensional Scream isn't really working anymore, we sorta need it right now," explained Big Amy.

"I see…" How was I going to—? Well, since my secret was out, I might as well be honest; I've always been a crappy liar. "They tell me that we're going to find full video records of what happened in this new timeline, and believe me, it will be scary."

"S-s-scary?" whimpered Chikorita.

"And then what?" asked Big Amy.

"And then…uh…I don't know…" Actually, what my storytelling instincts were really telling me was that after we see the videos, maybe…just maybe…something horrible might happen. But I didn't know exactly what; it was just a gut feeling. A gut feeling that maybe at that very moment, someone was watching us. Someone we didn't know. Huh. Maybe this dilapidated ship was putting my brain into overdrive, making me think it was all foreshadowing something. Furthermore, even if nothing was going to happen, I was even less sure about what Samus would do with us once we made it back to the ship. Would she turn us over to the Space Pirates? She wouldn't, would she? Maybe we could play along and once she gets her job back, break out of Space Pirate jail. I turned those thoughts over and over in my mind, desperately hoping to find a way out.

Finally, we arrived at the door to the commander's room, only to find it was locked shut. There were two tiny circular tunnels on either side of the door. Morph Ball tunnels. "I can handle this," said Samus, stepping forward. "Watch…and learn."

I'm not sure which button she pressed or what, but right then and there, she transformed herself into a basketball-sized orange ball. Big Amy and Chikorita almost screamed again, while Grovyle blanched and gasped, "Wh-what the heck—?"

"W-we saw this before—" stuttered Chikorita.

"It's her awesome Morph Ball ability that her Power Suit gives her. Personally, I still have no idea how she exactly does it," I explained.

"And no, I'm not going to tell you," she replied, which made me jump. It was really creepy hearing her voice coming from that orange ball. She then rolled into the tunnel on the right and jumped up whenever there was a change in elevation. She could even magnetically hang on the wall via a few scattered Spider Ball tracks.

"Ooo, I wanna do that too!" exclaimed Big Amy, jumping up and down. She bounced off my head, curled herself up into a ball (in the exact same way she did when using the Rollout move), and rolled into the tunnel on the left. To our amazement, she fit perfectly. And whenever she came across any Spider Ball tracks, she just wedged her tiny limbs into the grooves and shimmied her way up. She could even traverse the tracks on the ceiling like they were monkey bars. Wow. All my life, I had never been able to traverse monkey bars, considering how pathetically weak my arms were compared to my legs. She really was amazing.

Chikorita and I watched Big Amy and Samus expertly navigate the tiny tunnels and hit every switch along the way, while Grovyle stayed on the lookout for any more space slugs. When the two of them hit the last of the switches, the door opened, and they jumped down. Big Amy bounced back on my head, and Samus reverted out of Morph Ball mode. "Woooow…" Chikorita and I whispered in awe. I wished I could do what they just did.

"That was so much fun! I wish you could've come up there with me, Chikorita!" raved Big Amy. Chikorita coughed something about being too fat to squeeze into the tunnels.

"Just doing what I do," said Samus.

We went into the room. I was shocked. It looked exactly as I imagined it. It was very spacious, and there was a console in the middle of the room that I guessed where hologram reports could come from. There were windows all around, and a wide airlock door to the left that looked wide enough to kick a bunch of people though. At the far end in the front was a computer console that lined the wall, but no controls; perfect for a certain autopilot. "A-ha. Found it," said Samus, walking up to a security camera attached to the wall on the right. She used her scan visor to scan the camera, bringing it to life. Then she walked to the console in the center of the room, pressed a few buttons, and activated it too. She browsed through the files for August 23, 2499, and picked out one around 2:55 am. "This might be it," she concluded.

After pressing a few more buttons, the console shot a projection to the ceiling and spread a grid hologram over the whole room, freaking the Pokémon out a little.

"It's okay—it's harmless," I quickly explained.

Samus announced, "Brace yourselves. In a few seconds, you're going to see exactly what happened in this room on August 23, 2499, at 2:55 am. I sure hope it refreshes your memory, Puffball Girl."

"Y-yeah, me too…" she uttered, teeth chattering.

"I might recognize something…" mused Grovyle.

Finally, Samus addressed me, "And Miss Omniscient? I'm sure this will all be ancient history for you."

Ancient history, maybe. But how much will be new to me? Only one way to find out. After the hologram came into fruition, we walked to the wall on the right, sat down, cleared our eyes and ears, and watched.

* * *

The room was very dark, but was also very shiny and new, too. No holes, no space dust, nothing. There was someone at the computer console in the front of the room. He was a steering-wheel-shaped robot that hung from the ceiling, pressing random buttons with his bottommost handle. I held my breath.

Suddenly, the door to our left, the one we came in through, opened. A little robot with a big red light on his head sped through. "It's GO-4," I whispered. Samus shushed me.

GO-4 skated to the steering-wheel robot and emitted lots of bleeping noises. The steering-wheel robot turned, and the single glowing red eye in the center confirmed what I suspected. He was Auto! So it was true. Characters—no, bad guys—from Wall-E were appearing in this reality too.

We heard several voices arguing with each other getting louder and louder. Suddenly, we heard a loud pummeling sound, and all of the voices shouting in pain at once. Then seven people all flew in through at once and landed in a sprawling heap in front of the console, followed by a mess of scientific equipment that slammed into them, following by two 7-foot-tall intimidating security robots that strode in. We shuddered at their strength; they just sent seven people—well, six people and a toddler—flying. I was beginning to worry that robots ruled the world back then. Of course, that meant they practically did now too.

Auto ran a scanner over the disheveled and groaning group of what appeared to be scientists. He also scanned the equipment, and then pressed a button on the monitor, listing one big rule clearly for them all to see. It read:

_Axiatomic Link Regulation 752.30:  
No unauthorized experiments will be tolerated, especially those that jeopardize the health of people aboard the ship. Violators will be abandoned on a deserted planet/asteroid, whichever comes first._

Auto returned to the front and pressed several more buttons, finally speaking as he went. "Tylor Bokowski…Mariam Kholbeck…William Fangini…Jared Naruda…Roy Purima…Jean Purima…and finally, Amy Vee Purima. Otherwise known as the maverick scientific group The Dimensional Screamers." For each person's name, a data file came up on the screen showing what each person looked like, as well as other pertinent information. We could quickly tell who was who.

At the mention of Amy's name, we all gasped. "That…was me?" Big Amy whispered in shock.

Finally, Auto turned around and zoomed to the center of the room in front of the group. He then practically shouted in their faces, "You have all been hereby charged with breaking regulation 752.30: The development and performance of an **unauthorized experiment!** Furthermore…you had the gall to attempt one that would change the temporal fabric." The hulking, intimidating captain reprimanded them with a booming digitized voice that got into their head and makes it nearly impossible to think of a rebuttal. With his malevolent red "eye", his frighteningly fast agility, cold, calculating logic, and his ability to call upon an arsenal of weapons and security guards, it was clear he wouldn't take any excuses.

But Roy managed to think of one. "Uh, captain, it was only to provide a glimpse of either the future or the past, therefore allowing planetary leaders to make wiser decisions in their policy making—"

"YOU KNOW THAT MANIPULATING TIME COULD BRING ABOUT CATASTROPHIC CONSEQUENCES FOR ALL OF HISTORY! IF YOU ALTER **ANYTHING **IN THE PAST THE RESULTING PARADOXES WOULD DEVASTATE EVERYTHING IN THE FUTURE! DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?" bellowed Auto, getting angrier by the minute. The other five scientists tried to argue, but to no avail. I shuddered at the truth of Auto's words; we were living in a paradox already.

DING-DONG! went the console. The readings indicated:

_Upcoming planet: 12 light-years away and counting._

We gasped. We all recognized the beautiful planet on the monitor. "Planet Portania…" I whispered.

"…our home!" gasped the Pokémon.

"Oh no, this won't do," said AUTO. He pressed to the next nearby body, which said,

_Upcoming asteroid: 32 light-years away and counting._

Apparently, AUTO decided that was the perfect place for the punishment, because he started slowed the ship out of hyperspeed. "You know regulations," he said as he input some commands into the giant computer console on the nearby wall. "This is where we shall abandon you."

"No, wait!" they shouted. They tried to catch him, but he was faster. He zoomed to the front and typed out some commands. The screen showed the ID's of all seven people turn **gray** at 3:04:43 on August 23, 2499.

They all gasped in horror, and so did I; I knew as well as they that a gray ID card meant deceased. Auto pretended to not notice. "Irrelevant. I must complete my directive," he said, with such cold logic that only he, the mighty Auto, could muster so successfully.

Then the Axiatomic Link came to a stop. It jumped out of hyperspeed and started flying in towards the deserted asteroid. As it was landing, we could hear the voices of everyone on the ship from the security cameras dotting the edges of the monitor. Apparently, they had already been woken up by Auto's tirade and noticed the odd landscape outside their windows, and were all wondering if that was really the Planet K-2L they had come to colonize.

"Any final statements?" sympathetically mocked Auto. By now, all seven were tied up by the security guards.

"This experiment has the potential to see conflicts before they happen. We could use this to preserve peace for eternity!" pleaded Jean.

"Let's hope you aren't making the biggest mistake in human history. We are the only ones who ever know how to do these." said Roy, in an ominous tone while glaring straight into Auto's eye.

"Oh, come on! We were so close, too," complained Tylor, not taking it very seriously, apparently.

"Do we HAVE to die of asphyxiation?" asked Jared, flippantly.

"D-does the kid have to be involved in this, too?" asked Mariam, nervously looking at little Amy Purima.

William Fangini was too nervous to say anything and just whimpered. I held my breath, even though I already knew what Auto would say next.

"...**Yes.**"

I could feel the coldness dripping from his response, and I shuddered. This was just like The Cold Equations all over again. Well, not quite, but still! Good thing the little Amy Purima was asleep throughout this entire harangue. We all wondered how that was even possible, what with all the shouting. Finally, Auto gave the command that sealed their fates. "Do it!"

BOOT! The security guards literally kicked the seven of them and all the experimental equipment (including the numerous atomic clocks) outside. They landed sprawled out on the rocky surface, all tied up. Then the hatch was closed. The engines fired up and the ship began to rise. All of the passengers stared out the windows to the rouge scientists dumped out onto the asteroid below. Some unsympathetic ones even took sadistic pride in waving goodbye to them (and some people just waved for the fun of it). I bet not many people even knew them.

"No…wait…" was the last thing we could hear them say before they ran out of air and started suffocating. Though the Axiatomic Link flew farther and farther away, that didn't diminish the scene of suffering. The most disturbing part was when little Amy Purima finally woke up only to discover the lack of oxygen on the rock. And she tried to cry, but she couldn't, and…! I had to hug Big Amy to make sure she was really there, turned away, and sobbed in horror, choking, as if oxygen ran out for us too.

* * *

We were shaking as the hologram projection ended. So that must've been what Sheena felt like when she saw "Damos" betray Arceus in the 12th Pokémon movie. Even though I knew everything that was going to happen, seeing what exactly happened gave it a weight that I never expected it would have in reality. None of us could say anything…except Samus.

"…What do you know? Miss Omniscient's story here was true. At least the first part of it."

Finally, even we were finally able to discuss it. "That was really…me?" gasped Big Amy.

"B-but you're still alive…" stuttered Chikorita.

"That planet—our home—on the monitor…" noted Grovyle. "Did you say that when it was paralyzed, Auto abandoned them all there instead?"

"That's right. That's exactly right…" I replied.

In fact, we were so aghast, we never saw what was coming next. At first, I thought it was just a hallucination, but half a second later, we realized that the circular red glow, eerily similar to Primal Dialga's, didn't go away. It was still on! "AUTO?" I exclaimed in dismay, staggering to the left to run through the door. I crashed into it. To my horror, I found that the door behind us had locked.

Even Grovyle noticed and was alarmed. "Wait, so he's actually here?"

"Life-forms detected. Scanning…" it said. An unknown flash lit the room for a second, and the next thing we knew, we were surrounded by an aura of light pink particles that were probably just holograms. There were none around Samus, and very little around Grovyle and Chikorita. But around Big Amy and me…

"AAAAAAAAAH!" the three of us shouted, freaking out.

"One genetic signature identified. Amy Vee Purima. Still alive? Not possible. Wait…interdimensional particle emission detected." We gulped as Grovyle, Chikorita, and Samus quickly stepped away from us. For around Big Amy and me, the concentration of those pink particles was by far the densest. And around me, I could barely see through them at all. My heart raced, and I desperately wondered what in the world it meant. Did we have some special power? Did I pick something up when Palkia/Zoroark dragged me into this dimension? What was it, anyway?

"Whoa-ho! Just az Wii thought!" came a voice from nowhere. Chikorita jumped close to me again in shock. Suddenly, Auto shot a massive laser at us that expanded right before impact and enveloped the five of us in a red translucent energy field. None of us could move. Big Amy, Chikorita, and I were all trapped in the same energy field, and Grovyle let out a yell of anguish when he realized he had no way of reaching his friends. Not even Samus' power beams or missiles did a thing.

Zark and Zork suddenly materialized in front of us and shouted, "BOO!"

"AAAAH! The meanie-butts!" Big Amy and Chikorita screamed. My shouts of terror overlapped them when four other Space Pirates similarly materialized around the perimeter of the room.

They laughed and hi-fived each other, sort of. "C? C? l33t classic. Works on dem every time," chuckled Zark.

"How do u n00bs like our l33t invisibility cloaks?" guffawed Zork.

I was stunned, and could only utter, "A—wha—how did—I thought Mr. Referee blasted you guys into the stratosphere! So how—?"

"Oh yeh. Dat ol' timer. Teh Boss-Man beamed us up & drove us here," said Zark.

"What do you punks want?" growled Grovyle.

"Wii r here 2 take u 2 teh Boss-Man, & dere's nothin' u can do 2 stop us, l00zors!"

All six Space Pirates converged on us at once, swaggering and sniggering. We couldn't move. Team Pecha and I started to panic, as if Dusknoir and his Sableye lackeys were coming to drag them through the Dimensional Hole again. "No…no…NOOOO!"

They pushed us out back the way we came and down several corridors, until we saw a massive hole in the wall that we quickly realized was the opening of a Space Pirate vessel. The organic and fleshy walls made it feel like we were being pushed down the gullet of a very hungry space monster, especially when the maw snapped shut behind us. Finally, they shoved us against the wall on the far side of the chamber. Ghastly tentacles wrapped around us as the red force fields disappeared. We still couldn't move. The tentacles promptly restrained us, and oozed such disgusting liquids that it paralyzed me in revulsion, anyway. What exactly were they going to do to us, anyway?

Zark and Zork faced us from the far side of the room opposite of us. "Here's teh Boss-Man!" they announced simultaneously. We held our breaths. The fleshy door opened up from behind them to reveal a balding, 62-year-old man wearing an authoritative commander uniform. His eyes were sharp, and I could feel an undeniable gravitas to his being. Wait. What was a human doing here? Samus gasped, "Commander Tierney?" It made me gasp too. Commander Tierney, as in, the same guy from Sigma Star Saga? I mean, I probably should be used to these crazy crossovers by now…but still!

"Well, well, well. Samus Aran. What am I going to do with you? I clearly gave you a hint on how to get your job back, but what did you do? You failed to dump them back to where they came from, like I told you to. Instead, you drove them here, a clearly restricted sector of space."

"Restricted? How?" I exclaimed. No one told me this sector of space was restricted. I desperately looked to Samus for an answer, but judging by the pained look that came across her face, I realized that she purposefully didn't tell us. Maybe she assumed that I already knew. Well, that was one assumption that was clearly wrong. "Wait. You mean because this was a Space Pirate...hotspot?" I speculated. She nodded painfully.

"Anyway, High Command may turn a blind eye, but I cannot and will not continue to ignore your clearly insubordinate behavior, Samus. Therefore, I am forced to take disciplinary measures," he said, snapping his fingers.

A second later, a bluish-gray cybernetic alien with glowing green lines all over his body emerged from a door really high up and jumped, landing right next to the commander. He was a bit taller.

Samus and I gasped at the same time, "Sylux!" At that moment, Samus managed to wrench her Arm Cannon free and shoot several Super Missiles at the guy, but he was faster. He expertly dodged them all, letting them hit the walls of the ship to no effect. Then he shot a pulsating, blinding, multicolored beam at her. Since she was tied right next to me, it almost hit me, too.

I had to shut my eyes. The light wouldn't go away, and a loud, mechanical whining sound grated against my ears. When it was finally over, I heard Grovyle, Big Amy, and Chikorita gasp. I opened my eyes and gasped too. Samus was suddenly in her official blue Zero Suit, and I could finally see her entire face. She might've been about 25 years old or so, but looked much more mature than me thanks to the seriousness in her cold, blue eyes. Even though her blond hair was tied back in a ponytail, it still came all the way down to her waist. Her hair length must've been a bit longer than Amy Purima's. I then turned to Sylux to see where that beam came from. It looked like his ordinary sharp arm cannon to me.

Sylux laughed and spoke in the same loud, hollow voice I always imagined Dialga and Palkia having. "HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT? SUIT-DEACTIVATOR BEAM. GALACTIC FEDERATION PROTOTYPE. NOW I HAVE EXCLUSIVE ACCESS TO ALL OF THEIR WEAPONS, OF COURSE." What disturbed me the most was the fact that one beam could deactivate an entire power suit. If he could do it to Samus, he could do it to me too.

"Guess no promotion 4 u, Sa-moose! ROFL LOL!" The meanie-butts really did start rolling on the floor laughing. I just stared at them, aghast. I mean, I could understand how people could mispronounce Samus' name, but turning it into a joke? That was starting to go too far!

Big Amy, Chikorita, and Grovyle just continued staring at Samus in disbelief. "You're a human too?" exclaimed Big Amy in shock.

"W8 w8 w8. U didn't know she wuz a human?"

"OMG! U must b teh n00biest n00bs of all time!" Yeah, they really were going to die laughing.

Chikorita started sobbing and whimpered in a crushed voice, "Why do they keep calling us n00bs?"

"Shut up! Shut up, you punks!" shouted Grovyle, which only caused the tentacles to wrap even tighter, nearly choking him. I was amazed Samus didn't say a thing at all, but judging by the way she was ferociously glaring at Commander Tierney and Sylux, she probably thought saying anything to them at that point would only make things worse. Wow. She was brave.

As if answering an unasked question, Commander Tierney explained, "Now we will gladly finish the job for you. Oh yeah, and since we fired you, Galactic Federation regulations can't protect you anymore. So. Sylux?"

"YES?"

"Punish her. As much as you want."

"WITH PLEASURE," he grinned, cracking his knuckles like Captain Gantu from Lilo and Stitch—okay, I've seriously got to stop making all of these obscure cultural references.

We tried shouting and complaining how unfair it was, but to no avail. The tentacles instantly pulled Samus into the wall, and Sylux jumped up to a door somewhere above us. I felt sick. Sylux always held an unknown massive grudge against the Galactic Federation, and especially Samus. If it weren't for us, she wouldn't have fallen into this death trap…I stopped my thoughts. If Sylux was working with the Space Pirates, whom were also working with the Galactic Federation, then this conspiracy went down much further than I thought.

The meanie-butts became eerily quiet for once, but I didn't like the way they stepped on either side to make way for Commander Tierney, grinning at us. Commander Tierney dusted his hands off and said, "Now I am ready to deal with both of you Amy's." We gulped. All of a sudden, he glowed with a sick purple film and morphed into…

I blanched. "You're not Commander Tierney…you're Zoroark!"

The black bipedal monster fox chuckled demonically and strode up to me. "Well, well, well. Amy [you-know-who]. We finally meet."

I smacked my forehead, or at least tried to. "Zork, Zark…and Zoroak! Of course you'd be their Boss-Man! You—you're the one who pulled us to the future! And…you pulled me into this alternate dimension as Palkia, right? That wasn't a dream, right?" I asked.

"They never really fired Samus, did they? You're lying to her, aren't you?" accused Grovyle.

"Very observant of you two."

"Why?" we asked at the same time, but I gritted my teeth. Really, how could he do such an evil thing to her?

"Because. She will soon outlive her usefulness," he grinned evilly. I growled in frustration. Why wasn't anyone giving me a straight answer around here?

"However, I can tell you what I'm going to do to you. Amy Vee Purima…all you ever wanted was your memories to come back, right? I shall arrange that."

She whispered in hope, "You mean…?"

Grovyle paled in fear. "You don't mean…"

"Yes. Everything that happened before you met Chikorita. Everything. No more stories, no more lies—just the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. You can see everything, and then you shall remember it all. Permanently."

"NO! Don't do it, Amy! I swear, don't do it!" shouted Grovyle. He was absolutely desperate.

I could tell Big Amy was extremely conflicted. She really wanted to know everything, but on the other hand, Grovyle did say she was better off not knowing. I was also conflicted. Maybe it would be good to know exactly what happened, so I could have a better understanding of her and Grovyle. And besides, what if we ended up getting a chance to see my past too? Maybe then they could finally understand me too.

Zoroark glared and frowned at Grovyle. "I never said I would give you all a choice." Without warning, he charged up a ball of dark energy and launched it at all of us. Was it Dark Pulse? I shut my eyes and tensed, waiting for the painful impact.

There was no painful impact. It was the deep, heavy, somnolent sensation that was Dark Void. I couldn't keep my eyes open for much longer…no…

"Boss-Man!"

"U pwned dem! U r so l33t!" The meanie-butts' callous laughter was the last thing I heard.

To be continued…

**Coming up next: Zoroark. Zoroark! HE was working behind the scenes all this time, just to trap us like this! I still can't believe we even ended up in this mess. How can we ever get out? Wait a second…Uh-oh. Floating rocks? No wind or sun? Everlasting darkness? AAAH! We're **Trapped in the Past**! How?**


	10. Trapped in the Past

Chapter 10: Trapped in the Past

Uugh…My head and my throat felt fuzzy again. Why did I keep falling asleep on hard surfaces? I slowly pushed myself up from the gray granite floor and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, then snapped my eyes open with shock. My heart began to race. It was really dark, but I could still make out the dark-blue starless sky…the cracked ground…the withered trees...the rocks floating in midair.

And I screamed.

No, wait; it wasn't a high-pitched girly scream like "EEK!" Far from it. If I were to ever scream that high, I was pretty sure it would rip my vocal chords or something. No, I** yelled** at the top of my lungs, "AAAAAUUUUAAAAUUUAAAAGH!"

Guess what? Big Amy and Chikorita were still asleep (for once) next to me, and it, naturally, woke them up. What do you know? They panicked at the top of their lungs too.

"Not again!" shouted Chikorita in dismay.

"How did we get here? HOW?" Big Amy wailed. Poor girl. I remembered how she never wanted to go back to this dark future world ever again. She was against it so badly; she panicked when Dusknoir showed up to take them back. The whole point of Team Pecha's first major adventure was to prevent this world from ever existing. So what happened? Why was it still back? Unless…

"Maybe…maybe Zoroark pulled us into another dimension. Maybe he wants us to see what his ideal world would be like," I suggested.

"Don't you mean Darkrai's?" asked Chikorita.

"Yeah. Darkrai's. Or maybe they're related or something. Or maybe…!" I gasped as a better idea came into my head. "Maybe we're on a completely different paralyzed planet, and he's just trying to fool us!"

"Oh yeah! You might be right…but…how do we get out?" whispered Big Amy, finally calming down.

We sat down to think, but none of us could come up with any ideas. My brain kept going back to the possibility that this was actually Big Amy's past. Only one way to find out. "Hey, Big Amy. Remember when you and Grovyle and Chikorita came back from the future and spent the night at Sharpedo Bluff?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"There was this song—well, poem—I mean, chant—or whatever it was that he performed. How did it go again…?"

She thought for several seconds before realizing, "Oh yeah!" We then chanted at the same time,

_They say that one day, a spaceship flew by,_  
_Dumped seven people, and went back to the sky,_

"and then…uh…uh…" I groaned. We both forgot the rest of it!

"Oh yeah! I remember, kind of! We did that two years ago!" Chikorita pointed out.

"We only said it once, so I kind of forgot," explained Amy.

"But I don't have any excuse!" I complained. "I mean, I wrote the whole thing in only one day—"

I realized what I was about to say, and clamped my hands over my mouth right then. At the same time, ironically enough, the sound of a spaceship emerging out of hyperspace and slowing down drowned out whatever my friends were going to say. We looked up. My jaw dropped. It was the Axiatomic Link.

Big Amy and Chikorita immediately ran to it, shouting, "Hey! Help! WE NEED HELP!" and I ran after them too, though my thoughts got ahead of me again. Why was the Axiatomic Link all shiny and new? We were just in the old, rotting version. Where were Grovyle and Samus? What about Zoroark, Sylux, and the meanie-butts? Where **were** we, anyway? By the time the ship came to a stop, we were close enough to throw ourselves at the door of the ship, so we did.

What the heck?

We went right through the ship wall and landed back on the ground again! Was the ship a mirage? A hologram? I didn't remember any mirages in the dark future. Then I glanced at my hands—my whole self, actually—and gasped. So did Big Amy and Chikorita. We were the ones who were translucent, not the ship!

Before they could freak out, the door opened and we saw Auto's robot security guards kick out the same seven people we saw before, right through us. Next came the convoluted pieces of equipment. With growing horror, I realized that my whole other paralyzed planet theory was completely wrong. "Run for it!" shouted a really frightened Chikorita. I wasn't sure if it was really necessary, but just in case Chikorita's worries were right and they could see us, we did what she said.

How many times had we been shocked today? I lost count. I mean, I probably shouldn't have been so easy to scare, but Big Amy and Chikorita's constant shouting was starting to become contagious. At that rate, we were definitely going to faint before long. I decided I'd better be careful.

I could just catch a few phrases of what the six scientists were complaining about…and that little Amy Purima's wail just as the ship left the planet to never return. I didn't want to look back. When we were a safe distance away, Big Amy asked me, "What's going on? That's not what we saw."

"Yeah, weren't they dumped on that asteroid rock place and suffocated?" asked Chikorita.

"Okay, okay! Calm down and let me explain. I think I've got it now. Zoroark is making us see what happened in the original timeline before you guys changed history at Temporal Tower and all that. Either this is all just some nightmare or mass hallucination…or…Big Amy…We're inside your head!"

"INSIDE MY HEAD?" she panicked.

The next thing we knew, someone from behind us shouted, "Extraterrestrial interlopers!" We jumped and turned around. It was Dusknoir.

"AAAAAAH!" That time, we finally did faint. Either his black hole beam was that powerful, or all that shouting finally caught up to us. Maybe it was both, though I strongly suspected the latter was way more true, to tell you the truth.

* * *

"You think it will really work this time?"

"It better. We spent four years working on it."

"Are you sure it was four years? I lost count. You can't really tell time on this accursed rock."

"Sure I'm sure. See how tall that little Amy is now?"

My eyes flew open at the sound of my name. Who was talking about me now? Big Amy woke up at the same time, and then I wondered which one of us they were talking about. We looked around. Apparently, the three of us were lying on an open plain. The opening to a cave was in front of us, with the six scientists inside, working on their Dimensional Scream experiment on all sorts of incomprehensible devices. Behind us was a shriveled up forest, but it was still pretty thick. And were we really asleep for four years, or did this weird place warp four years into the future? I glanced at my hands again and decided that since I hadn't aged any, the latter was true. We were still translucent, though.

A little girl about five years old suddenly ran in front of us. She had shoulder-length brown hair, bright green eyes, and a long brown dress of some sort. She looked like a short version of Amy Purima—Wait. She **was** Amy Purima! I groaned. Oh, great. Now there were **three **Amys. When will it end? Was my name not unique or special anymore? Before I could go any further on my imaginary soapbox, she shouted at the forest, "Finally! I win!"

"Hey, no fair! You were already halfway here!" A Treecko leapt out of the forest, sailed right through us, and collided right into the little Amy. They looked like they were trying to pummel each other in a cartoonish cloud of dust. Actually, the little Amy would escape for second, then the Treecko would quickly catch up, and then they'd pummel each other again. I blinked. Wait a second. I didn't remember Kana Amara having these kinds of problems with Treecko. What was going on in here? I soon had my answer. It was the crucial difference that defined her as a character different from battle-ready Kana.

"But I can never beat you in anything, Treecko! That's not fair, either!"

"You just need to practice a bit more!"

"But I don't wanna fight you!"

"Why not?"

"Because…because…" She paused, and a pang went right through my heart. She reminded me so much of how I was before the age of 12, when I could never find the words to explain why I couldn't stand certain high-adrenaline things other kids seemed to love. If I was her, I would've told him about how I had a natural, deep-seated aversion to fighting. Sadly, I couldn't even if I wanted to; it looked like no one here could see or hear us. "LEAVE ME ALONE!" she finally shouted, running away.

Treecko just sat there with a shocked expression on his face. "Amy…What did I do wrong now?" He looked like he was about to cry too. "I just don't get her…Why?" he whispered to himself.

Chikorita finally woke up too. "Poor guy…" she sympathised.

I clarified to her, "I don't know about you, but my storytelling instincts tell me that they're supposed to be really good friends. I think we're just getting a bad first impression."

"Isn't that…Grovyle?" Big Amy gasped.

"I know it is," I assured her.

We could then hear the scientists saying things like, "Y'know, I wish I knew what Lizard Boy was really saying. I mean, what the heck is _'Treecko Treecko Tree!'_ supposed to mean? Lucky Amy…"

"Told you. Languages are easier to learn for youngsters."

"Hey, no slacking off, people! We're almost done. Just think about it! If this works, we'll be one step closer to being able to go to the past and stop ourselves from ever being kicked off the Axiatomic Link."

"Not just that! We should buy this year's sports almanac and go back into the past. We can place super-high bets because we'll know who'll win each game, and we'll be rich! Rich!"

"Wouldn't that be ripping off of that late 20th century film, what was it again, uh…Back to the Future, Part 2…?"

"Hey, at least we know for a fact that it'll work, you know? Or do you want to try the lotteries instead…?"

As they continued discussing things like that, I realized that these guys really did want to use that technology for their own greedy selves, and I shuddered. Chikorita wanted us to follow Treecko, so we did.

The 5-year-old Amy was sitting in the back of the cave, angrily scribbling something on the rock wall. Treecko tentatively crawled up and whispered, "Amy. Amy. I'm sorry."

"Never make me do that again, okay? You have to promise!" she seethed.

He shuddered, and croaked in a small voice, "…Okay. I promise."

We looked at what she was drawing, and my jaw dropped. It was a clear series of drawings depicting such things as a Pecha Berry, a red bow, and even a Pecha Berry house. (It made Big Amy and Chikorita gasp, "We live there!" at the same time.) What spooked me the most was how rounded and smooth the edges of the drawings were. I mean, no normal 5-year-old should ever be able to have that level of control. It even rivaled mine, and if she was rivaling me, an 18-year-old, that was really saying something!

"Wow. You're really good at this!" whispered Treecko in awe. "How do you do it? And why do you like that stuff, anyway? You don't see many Pecha Berries around here…"

"I keep telling you. I don't know…" she replied in dismay.

Treecko picked a random crayon thingy and tried drawing some kind of tree with his left hand just like Amy. He frowned. He tried with his right hand. It was better, but not by much. Finally, he scribbled out the whole thing and threw the black crayon down in frustration, huffing, "Okay! You win! You win!"

Meanwhile, Big Amy was staring at the drawing the whole time. She stood in front of her past self, fingering the lines, almost as if she was in a trance, which concerned me. "Uh…Big Amy? You okay?" I asked.

"I…I think I…remember this…" she whispered.

Chikorita practically groaned, "Of course you remember it. This is your past!"

"No, I mean…it feels even deeper than that…"

Suddenly, we heard voices from outside. Evil-sounding voices. My heart sank. When Big Amy and Chikorita gasped, I knew that they recognized those voices. They were the voices of Dusknoir and his Sableye lackeys. I couldn't believe that they were here already.

And of course, that was when they crashed in, captured everyone, and trashed the place, paralyzing us with fear. We could only watch, and it never occurred to us that we could just walk right through the chaos unfolding in front of us. It felt so real. The whole time, we were fervently hoping that they wouldn't see us.

* * *

_Samus and Grovyle materialize from out of nowhere in the middle of a barren plain in the dark future world. They look all around, taking in the withered trees, the floating rocks, and the grayscale environment all around. Samus is utterly bewildered, while Grovyle recognizes the place at once with an air of unease. Oddly enough, Samus suddenly has her orange Power Suit back on._

Grovyle: Good. We're in.

Samus: Wh-what is this place?

Grovyle: This, Samus, is what a paralyzed planet looks like. And if I'm not mistaken, this is the original Planet Portania, when Temporal Tower collapsed in the past and time stopped, creating this dark future.

Samus: Whatever it is, we'd better hurry. It won't be long before Sylux finds out where I've gone.

_Grovyle shushes her as he sees a giant flagship emerge from the dark blue sky._

Samus (squinting): Hey, isn't that…the Axiatomic Link?

Grovyle: Let's go.

_They run up there to get a closer look and hide behind a rock as the ship lands and kicks the seven people out, along with the mess of scientific equipment. Grovyle sees the little one-year-old Amy amidst the mess._

Samus (totally shocked): What in the world…? I thought they were kicked out on an asteroid to die of asphyxiation! Why are they suddenly here? Wait. No way…Miss Omniscient was right!

Grovyle (paleing): No way. No…freakin'…way. Please tell me this isn't what I think it is.

Samus: What? What are you talking about?

Grovyle: This. Is. My Amy's…past! I know it is! And that means…*gasp*…NO! This is terrible!

Samus: Grovyle! I'm in the dark here!

Grovyle: The two Amys and Chikorita are somewhere in here. They're being forced to live through the events of our past! And if MY Amy gets to that…horrid…part…where her parents get executed—

Samus: Hang on a second! She was an orphan too?

Grovyle: Yeah. Wait, what do you mean, "too"…?

_She immediately clamps her hand over her mouth._

Samus (glaring at herself): Never mind. Forget I said anything.

Grovyle: Right. Anyway, if she gets to that part…*erk!*

_Samus nods knowingly, with a serious expression on her face._

Grovyle (starting to panic): …I can't let her! I can't! We have to find her and get her out of here! NOW!

* * *

We ran after them, with Treecko trailing behind us. It escaped me as to how a 7-foot floating ghost with six little 1'8" followers carrying six adults and a little kid in heavy-looking bags could manage to run way faster than even quick little Treecko. Maybe Primal Dialga scared them into gaining super-strength or super-speed. I wouldn't know. I remembered myself writing this exact event 1½ years ago (about October 2008), and now I was seeing the results right in front of my eyes. This was getting pretty weird.

Naturally, I ran as fast as I could (with Big Amy on my head, desperately urging me to go "Faster, faster!") with Chikorita moving her four legs as fast as she could next to me. I had no idea how far it was to the stockade; it wasn't even in sight by the time one of those sharp pains shot through my ribs. What was it again…? Oh yeah. A side stitch cramp.

"Your legs…are too long…" huffed Chikorita. Then she suddenly screamed, "I HATE THIS PLACE!" I think what she really meant was that she hated this place because she would always end up running too fast for her endurance to handle.

"Wh-what do you mean, Chikorita? Didn't you and Big Amy—run to mystery dungeons—all the time?" I gasped.

"Yeah, but the truth is…haha…we would always walk the moment one of us got tired," answered Big Amy. "Hey! Faster, Little Amy! Faster!"

"IT REALLY HURTS DOWN HERE, Y'KNOW?" I shouted, clutching the spot on my chest where that side stitch cramp was.

Luckily, I survived, mostly because I suddenly remembered that all I had to do was breathe in though my nose and out through my mouth. When I did that, the pain went away, at least a little. Finally, we arrived at the giant forbidding fortress-stadium with torches lit all around it. Dusknoir and his lackeys entered the gaping maw of a pitch-black entrance. The stockade. We caught our breaths and Chikorita gulped, shaking with fear.

"They can't see us, remember? Now GET IN THERE! I wanna see what's gonna happen!" demanded Big Amy, shoving my head forward. We ran into the tunnel just as the iron double-doors snapped shut behind us. We were in darkness. Before we could panic, though, we saw a light emit at the end. We followed the tunnels to its source and emerged in the middle of a circular stadium with three columns in the center. It was exactly as I imagined it; reminiscent of a similar stadium from Star Wars Episode II. Three spotlights were trained on the columns. Then the stadium entrance gate shut behind us.

All six Sableye tied six of the people up, two to a column. To our right, Dusknoir ripped the bag off a really frightened little Amy Purima. And in the stands behind him was the one and only 17' 9" tall Primal Dialga, glaring down on the action, complete with piercing red lights from his eyes and the jewel on his chest. Bright red, just like Auto's single glowering eye. It was the first time I'd ever seen Primal Dialga in real life, and no DS game could ever capture the deep sense of dread and horror I could feel emanating from him. We shivered.

My friends watched the action in stunned silence, and so did I. At the same time, the music from when Sheena and Kevin saw "Damos" betray Arceus came into my mind, and I realized this must've been exactly how they felt at the time. My heart raced even faster. I didn't know if the coming conversation would sound just as cheesy as when I first wrote it, or if it would be really, really terrifying.

"Extraterrestrial interlopers! Master Dialga charges the six of you of attempting to alter history!"

I stared. Then I mentally smacked myself in the head. Of course Dusknoir's vocabulary would now consist of SAT-caliber words! I first wrote this scene a year before I came up with all those different speech patterns in Amy, Chikorita, and the Echoes of Time.

The scientists whispered in confusion. Obviously, none of them could understand a word that Dusknoir was saying. But I could understand because I still had the translator device I managed to buy in Gaijin City still stuffed in a convenient pocket inside my Amazing Shrinking Backpack.

"Hmm…Curious. They do not understand me. But you, miniscule one…you comprehend my vocabulary, can you not?"

The little girl shivered and stared in confusion. At only 3'3", she was hopelessly tiny compared to him. "Uh…yes?"

"Then elucidate to them my exact quotations!"

"Huh—wha?"

"Tell them what I just said!" he bellowed, smacking her down. Hard. We gasped, and so did the six people tied to the columns.

"Ow! Okay, okay. Uh…Master Dialga charges you of at—attempting to, uh…alter history?"

Dusknoir smiled as the six scientists frantically discussed how anyone could discover their experiments like that. "Very good." He then turned to the people and said, "You are to be executed immediately."

"You are to be ex—execute—I mean, executed, imme…diately," said little Amy, stifling sobs.

The six of them started demanding explanations from Dusknoir. He did. "Master Dialga presides over the entirety of our humble Planet Portania. By attempting to alter history, you have violated his sole ultimate law. This is merely the retribution you so reasonably deserve." The young Amy managed to translate all that, but she had to ask for clarification on what the words meant, and endure a lot of beatings for her efforts.

"Any…last…words?" She broke down crying, and I didn't blame her. I mean, I would too, if at 5 years old I had to comprehend SAT-caliber words and translate them to my parents (and their friends) in only, like, a few seconds, or get spanked with capital punishment if I wasn't fast enough!

I don't remember everything they said, but what Jean Purima whispered stuck out in my mind the most acutely, despite how quiet it was. "I'm so sorry, Amy…I'm so sorry." My heart lurched. She might've been addressing little Amy Purima there, but for all I knew, she could just have easily been addressing me too.

"Okay! We ready!" shouted the six Sableye, sharpening their claws, grinning sadistically.

"Good. Monitor them shrewdly. And do not avert your gazes until their consciousnesses have ceased to exist!" He then turned to little Amy and…I think he smiled, but it looked like his eye just twitched. "That applies to you too, miniscule one."

"Wheh-heh-heh!"

The six of them moved forward, giggling in sadistic anticipation. As the little Amy Purima shouted, "No, NO! STOOOOOP!" a sharp pang ran through my chest, and I think Big Amy was holding her mouth, trying to muffle herself from shouting the exact same thing.

Chikorita desperately asked me, "They're going to find a way out, right? Just how we did with Grovyle, right?"

I had to tell her the truth. "No. They're all going to die…and it'll be horrible." I just remembered, with a stroke of horror, that this was the very first time I ever killed off a character in a story I wrote, being re-enacted just for us. Only this time, not two, but six people were going to die at once.

Big Amy took a step back and said, "Wait a second…this all…feels so familiar…" I saw that some sort of recognition was creeping into her eyes, and I realized I had to get them out of there at once. I picked them both up and, ignoring their protests, turned to charge right through the gate that surely must've been as easy to pass through as the Axiatomic Link.

BZAP!

I fell back, my head throbbing. It hurt so badly, the two of them fell out of my arms. "What the heck…?" I examined my hands again. We were still translucent. I touched the bars. A streak of dark electricity zapped my finger. At that moment, I heard a soft "Muahahahaha…" booming down from out of nowhere. Something, or someone, for some reason, locked us all in here, forcing us to watch too.

"Don't look, guys! Don't look!" I shouted, grabbing them both and hugging them as tightly as I could, trying to turn them away from the ghastly scene that was about to happen. But Chikorita squirmed out of my grasp, whining, "I wanna see! I wanna see!"

"Chikorita, don't!"

But I was too late. It didn't matter anymore. At least I could protect Big Amy, who seemed more willing for once.

"Commence…now!" boomed Dusknoir.

I squeezed my eyes shut just as all six Sableye starting the slashing. It was way worse than I ever imagined it to be. The blood-curdling screams were the worst part. I might've been able to shut the gory events out of my eyes, but I couldn't cover my ears; my arms were tied up hugging Big Amy and covering her ears. If the Sableye were initially surprised by the whole concept of bleeding, I didn't catch it. They quickly recovered, and I suspected that this was the event when they first developed a sadistic taste for execution.

Chikorita was fascinated by the sight, but only for the first few seconds. Then even she hid behind me, saying things like "What kind of red juice IS that? I-I don't like it!" and finally, could no longer keep the scream out of her throat. Big Amy started screaming too, and at first, I didn't know why. After all, she's not seeing or hearing it at all. With a pang, I realized the horrible truth: We were too late to prevent this section of her memory from being completely unlocked. She could still see it through the eyes of the young Amy Purima. While I never screamed, even I couldn't keep the tears out of my eyes for long. This was the kind of thing that could kill anyone's innocence, no matter whom or what they were.

After what seemed like an eternity, they finally finished, and I could only open my eyes after they opened six trapdoors underneath the lifeless people, dropping them in. After the chutes closed, Primal Dialga nodded at Dusknoir, and then left. Dusknoir pushed the young Amy forward and laughed evilly, "Now, miniscule one…It's your turn."

"NOOO! Let me go! Let me gooooo!" she shouted, but it was no use. The ropes were bound too tightly, and before we knew it, they already tied her up to the middle column. As Big Amy and Chikorita began to panic, my heart sank again. Was it not enough? Did we have to live out **her **execution too?

"AMY!"

Of course. I just remembered. It was Treecko coming to the rescue! We saw him scampering down the steps of the stadium and leapt toward the center. He glowed in midair, blinding all of us, especially Dusknoir and the Sableye. It was the first time I ever saw a Pokémon evolve in real life, and he moved too fast for me to catch what it looked like.

The ropes had suddenly been slashed. There was Grovyle, in an awesome heroic pose, with a really stunned Amy Purima in his arms. So dashing! So valiant! So much like Link from The Legend of Zelda or…someone like that! I vaguely wondered if Chikorita was swooning at the time. It was another of those moments where it was only one second in reality, but felt like it should've been 10 seconds in a dramatic movie.

"Treecko?" she gasped in shock.

"No time for talk. Let's get you out of here now."

He slung her on his back and carried her out of there as fast as possible. Dusknoir cleared his eye from the light and bellowed, "Find them! FIND THEM!"

We just sat there, completely stunned. Too stunned to move. We didn't move when they opened the doors and charged right through us. Finally, all of our tears started to flow at once. I realized with a pang that because I wrote all of this, if it weren't for me, none of this would've ever happened. Guilt racked through every pore of my skin. I had no choice but to admit the truth.

I didn't want to let go of Big Amy as I sobbed, "I'm so sorry, guys! I-I swear, if only I'd known how horrible this really was, I'd never have…I'd never…"

Chikorita tried to console me even though she was crying just as hard. "It's n-not your fault, Little Amy…you wouldn't have known…I mean…the device doesn't show…that red liquid that—"

"But, Chikorita! It IS my fault!"

"Huh? What do you m-mean?"

"The game…it—it only shows everything that happened between you and Big Amy! All of this…everything that happened before that's happening now…"

"Before I lost m-my memories…?" asked Big Amy.

"Yes. Before you lost your memories. Guys, I **am** a real storyteller! The game never explained what happened to you before, and how you could possibly be a human from the future, so…everything that's happening here…I wrote it! The Axiatomic Link, them getting abandoned here, this execution, everything…I made it all up!"

Neither of them said anything, so I continued on, "But you're right too, Chikorita. I didn't know it would actually happen in real life…to you. I thought I was just writing a logical story! I didn't know you guys would be real. I didn't know we'd ever become friends! I swear, if only I'd know it would be this horrible…I never would've wrote this at all! I'm sorry, guys! I feel so bad! Go ahead and hate me if you want, but I swear…I've never, EVER, meant to hurt you guys like this…ever." I broke down after that.

Again, silence. After what felt like another eternity, Chikorita patted me with her leaf and whispered, "…Little Amy? I don't hate you."

I blinked. "Huh?"

Big Amy added, "I don't hate you either, Little Amy. You might've made this happen to me…but it all still makes perfect sense. Now I know why Grovyle didn't want me to remember. But…at the same time…I don't think there are any memories that are ever worth forgetting. None." How true. Just like that line from Fruits Basket.

"And the most important thing of all? You **are** a good person. When you said you never meant to hurt her, I could feel that you really meant it. Could you, Big Amy?"

"Feel it? I **knew** it. I forgive you, Little Amy…because that's what friends do. See, from the day we first met…I'll admit it. You might only be the second alien we've ever met…but you're the only one I've ever been able to fully understand. I've always wanted to be friends with you too."

"Me too, Little Amy. Me too."

I sniffed. "Thanks, guys…"

We didn't say anything anymore. We just hugged each other, crying in relief. I was so thankful that they didn't hate me—they could've had a completely different reaction. It didn't matter that they were considered fictitious in my home dimension. They were here, they were real…and I swore we'd be friends forever no matter what.

* * *

My tears clouded my eyes so badly, I never knew exactly when the scene changed all around us. Before we knew it, we were in the middle of a dark-gray forest. Grovyle and the little Amy Purima were in front of us, leaning against a lone tree of some sort. It occurred to me that the little Amy was crying too, though we never heard it because we were so loud. Apparently, she recovered and asked, in that same hiccuppy voice, "W-who are you? How can you b-be Treecko?"

"Calm down, Amy, calm down! I just evolved. Us Pokémon can do that. I'm not sure why, though…I'm supposed to have defeated one more opponent before it was supposed to happen…"

I knew why, of course. When I wrote The Heroes of Time, I thought that Treecko's evolution would symbolize the radical change in which the character of Kana—I mean, Amy—went through when the executions occurred. I hadn't stopped to seriously think about how it would be possible though. Maybe in the heat of the moment?

"Wh-why did he kill Mama and Papa? And tried t-to kill me too? We d-didn't do anything…"

"They're guilty. You're not. Nevertheless, Primal Dialga thinks you'll continue what they did, so he wants you gone too."

"It's n-not fair…"

Grovyle looked really uncomfortable. I could tell he wasn't used to anyone crying for this long for any reason. Or maybe it was his new height in comparison to Amy Purima (they were almost the same height now, though he was still a little shorter). He cleared his throat awkwardly and suggested, "Well! If it'll make you feel any better, I guess I'll have to look after you from now on."

"R-really?"

"Uh, yeah. It's not like we have any choice, you know what I mean?"

"Thank you so much!" She hugged him really hard, accidently slamming him into the tree. He just went, "Ack! Can't…breathe…"

It was the only heartwarming moment I've ever felt since we arrived in this creepy place. "Aww…" said Chikorita, sniffing.

Just then, little Amy Purima suddenly let go. Her eyes were wide open in shock. For a second, I thought I saw a view of a green forest that I remembered seeing all the time on the title screen of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time. There was a glowing Time Gear spinning in the middle of it. But just as quickly as it came, it went. "Amy? Amy? What's wrong?" asked Grovyle, seriously concerned.

"Did you see that?"

"See what?"

"A forest! Some spinning blue thingy! Actual color! Didn't you see it?"

"No…Are you okay?"

"I'll show you! Here…this is what it looked like…"

I was surprised to find that she was carrying paper, crayons, and some pencils in her dress pocket. She sat down and started to draw what she saw. As I analyzed her technique, my eyes grew wider and wider. First, she lightly sketched the contour lines of the Time Gear and forest with the pencil. Then she went over the final lines more heavily. Finally, she colored in the basic shapes with the crayon, and not only that, she also added shading with different pressures from the crayons. If I never had access to coloring on the computer…that was exactly how I would color my pictures too! What the heck was going on in here?

Big Amy was also speechless. She pulled out her Time Gear picture, compared them, and found that they were exactly the same (though her copy was much more worn away).

Suddenly, we heard voices from around us saying things like, "Oh my gosh! It's a Time Gear!" We looked around. Pokémon of all shapes and sizes (but mostly Grass types) emerged from hiding and came out to meet Amy Purima and Grovyle. A Masquerain addressed the group, "Everyone stand back! Let me handle this."

As he turned to face them, Amy Purima shrank back and whimpered (Who wouldn't, when faced with a floating eyeball—I mean, eye-patterned 4-winged dragonfly dude?) while Grovyle immediately sharpened his Leaf Blades. "Whoa whoa whoa! Hold on. Let me introduce myself. My name is Masquerain, and we…" he turned around and gestured at the Pokémon "…are the Planetary Investigation Team. I'm sure you're familiar with the legends of the Time Gears? We've heard the rumors, but we never knew it was true. Who **are** you?"

"I'm Grovyle…and this is Amy Vee Purima."

Everyone was shocked at how that—"one who didn't smell like a Pokémon"—could have three names. Masquerain shushed them again and asked, "So. Well. Uh…Amy Vee Purima…uh…how is it that you saw that a Time Gear used to be here?"

"I-I don't know. I just saw it right here. What's so special about it?"

Masquerain examined the drawing and said, "Hmm…why don't you two come with us? We'll explain everything."

Confused, but figuring they had no choice, Amy Purima and Grovyle decided to follow Masquerain and the rest of the Pokémon back into the forest. We would've followed them, but a very familiar voice stopped us.

"Amy! Chikorita! And…that other Amy!"

We turned around. It was Grovyle! He was running toward us as fast as he could, and I jumped. For a second, I wondered how he could suddenly see us. But then I looked from him to the other Grovyle over and over again, and realized that this Grovyle was translucent just like us. But Big Amy and Chikorita didn't register that fact as quickly as I did. "AAAH! How can you see us?" they shouted.

I had to explain about how this must've been OUR Grovyle, since he was translucent just like us. A few seconds later, to prove my point, a translucent Samus just arrived too. "I swear…" she was muttering, "If someone doesn't give me a rational explanation on how the heck this twisted world works, I'm going to go insane."

Grovyle reached us, caught his breath, and began speaking really quickly. "Okay. Here's the deal. Zoroark hit the three of you with Dark Void, right? And he missed me, right? Well, right now, all three of you are asleep in the real world. And all three of you are also, at this moment, in a…what's that word again, Samus?"

"Space Pirate laboratory."

"Right! You're in a laboratory, where Zoroark and his pirate punks are running all sorts of tests on you."

It felt like he lifted a lid from over my head. This was exactly like that one episode in Ben 10! But experiments? My teeth chattered, "Wh-what kinds of tests?"

Samus explained, "To tell you the truth, I really have no idea. It must be related to those unknown energy particles you were emitting. But knowing Space Pirates, it can't be good."

"Then why are you guys here?" asked Chikorita.

"Sylux was going to execute the two of us. But then Grovyle managed to get us out of there."

Grovyle waved a Luminous Orb at us. "Heh. Oldest trick in the book. Works every time."

"And then my Power Suit suddenly came back on. I'm not sure why. Anyway, I was able to hack into a computer and send an SOS message for Adam to pick us up. See, I found out that we're all on the Space Pirate Homeworld right now."

**The **Space Pirate Homeworld from Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, huh? Even though I kept making cultural references like these in my head, at least I had the common sense to not blurt them out loud. After all, no one here in the 26th century would understand them at all, especially not my friends. I also realized that Grovyle and Samus were calling each other by their first names. I guess they really earned each other's respect by now, which, to tell you the truth, made me feel a little jealous.

"Samus here was going to make a run for it, but I convinced her to look for you guys. Luckily, we found you in the next two seconds. You all were asleep in the lab, and Zoroark and those punks…grr…" His fist clenched, and I blanched. Something **really** bad must've been happening to us.

Right then, Samus explained everything. "Amy Vee Purima. You never lost your memories. They were simply suppressed. Right now, they're drilling into those memories, un-suppressing them, and transmitting them to you, Chikorita, and the kid. They're trapping you in here. So we found a hidden external device that allowed us to enter your heads and get you out. Only thing is…I'm not really sure how to get out."

I answered, "I think I might know. If this is anything like that Ben 10 episode, they've probably hidden the exit in a place we'd least expect it." Then I clamped my hands over my mouth again. Dang it! What did I tell myself about not blurting out cultural references?

But luckily, no one seemed to notice my gaffe. Chikorita asked, "But how come we're warping so randomly? One moment, I see those people dumped out here, the next, they're all in this cave, and—"

Grovyle thought hard and admitted, "Hmm…it does seem pretty random. We're trying to figure it out ourselves."

Personally, I didn't think it was random at all. Those warp points were always where I'd naturally make such a warp if I were telling the story. But before I could explain, Grovyle said, "Hey, Amy?" I perked up. "No, not you, human! I meant the Jigglypuff! Amy Purima? Are you okay?"

We all turned to look. I realized with a shock that she was still looking uncharacteristically glum, and that she never said a word throughout our entire conversation. Uh-oh. "…I hope so. That…" she shuddered.

Grovyle blanched. I realized they were talking about the execution scene, and I stammered, "Sh-she didn't see or hear anything! I made sure of it, I swear!"

"NO!" He pounded his fist on the ground, hard. "That was why I didn't want you to remember these memories. I'm…too late." He looked so crushed, and the sight dropped a weight on my heart. I failed him. I failed her. I failed them all…again.

To be continued…

**Coming up next: We see young Amy and the past Grovyle join the Planetary Investigation Team and go on an insane 5-year-long adventure across the dark future world to find the locations of the Time Gears. All the while, we try to find a way out of this crazy place. Can we find it?** **But with all this talk about Zoroark and the meanie-butts experimenting on us, I get the feeling that we're only coming **Out of the Frying Pan…


	11. Out of the Frying Pan

Chapter 11: Out of the Frying Pan…

No one, except me, had any idea about where the next warp point might be. I suggested that we follow the Planetary Exploration Team to their secret base so that we could at least see what happens next, so we did. We were sitting in an underground base with the team members all around us, sometimes even walking through us, and we watched as Masquerain led little Amy Purima and Grovyle to the center. And what do you know? Celebi was working with them too! She saw them and flew right up to them.

She blinked and rubbed her eyes several times. "My dearie Treecko? Is that really you?"

Grovyle sighed. "Yeah, it's me. Y'know, Celebi, that name was amusing back when I was a Treecko, but now that I'm a Grovyle, you think you mind calling me something a little more respectable now?"

"Oh, I see!" she exclaimed in triumph. "You are now dearie Grovyle!"

He smacked his forehead in exasperation, while we stifled laughter.

Celebi then glared at the little Amy Purima. "I see. Well, dearie Grovyle here might've taken pity on you, but I'm warning you, little miss alien…don't take advantage of it!"

The little girl just stared in confusion, and looked a little intimidated, too. I couldn't help but get the feeling that Celebi would've reacted really differently if she were talking to a little boy instead, like maybe Kyumu or Peter or anyone like that. She was practically radiating jealousy all over.

"Okay, Celebi, calm down. Now why don't we fill them in on what they know? Since you know them, they could be valuable allies."

Everyone around us finally quieted down. Grovyle and the little Amy sat down in front of us and watched the performance given by the members of the team. It was about the history of the world and how it became paralyzed thanks to the collapse of Temporal Tower, Dialga going mad and turning into Primal Dialga, blah blah blah blah blah. The only one of us who took it all in completely was Samus, probably because we never told her the whole story. But for us, it was all ancient history. Grovyle spent more time bugging me about where and when the next warp point might be, and I half-seriously told him it would probably be after the two of them took off on their quest to save the planet.

Then the talk came to Amy's vision of the Time Gear, and the possibilities they saw of finally being able to save the world. They deduced that it was from the scientists' time experiments, and that just by touching where a Time Gear was, they could pinpoint its location. Finally, there came the question of what would happen if someone did go back in time, find the Time Gears and put them in Temporal Tower. "We…would disappear too?" gasped the little Amy Purima.

Masquerain took a vote: All who were willing to disappear, raise their hand, otherwise say no. Every single Pokémon in the room enthusiastically raised their hands, and no one said no. Even Celebi, who could send them into the past, said, "I would devote my whole life to it no matter what!"

"You see?" said Masquerain. "Everyone here is willing to sacrifice themselves if it means making this world right again. It's against Primal Dialga's ultimate law…and it certainly won't be easy…but this right here is proof that it'll all be worth it," he said, while pointing to the picture.

Grovyle explained, "There's no way we can live in peace, anyway. Dusknoir won't stop pursuing you no matter what we do. I think we should try to find rest of the Time Gears, if only for your parents' sake…if only to prove that you ever existed in this world at all. Well, Amy? What do you say?"

Tears welled up in both the little Amy's eyes, and I think even Samus' too. She was really into this drama. "O-okay. We'll try."

Everyone in the room cheered. Grovyle had one more question. "But didn't the Pokémon in the past believe that removing the Time Gears would cause the world to end like this too?"

"That's right. We're looking into it right now."

"Uurgh…stupid system. This won't be easy…"

Masquerian said, "We'll assist you two in any way we can. It'll be dangerous for us too, but you, Amy Vee Purima, are the one we've been waiting for all this time. We won't fail you. We promise."

They took off running. They began their quest to save the planet! That looked like a good place for a scene change. I half-seriously announced to everyone, "Okay. We should have a scene change in three…two…one…"

* * *

"Try it here, Amy. Maybe…"

"Grovyle, we've tried everywhere on this island. I'm starting to wonder if this Dimensional Scream was a one-time-only thing…"

The scene changed in front of our eyes before we knew it. It was so abrupt that we all gasped out of shock. The little Amy looked just a bit taller, and her hair was a bit longer, too. We were in a grayscale limestone cave, where the water droplets dripping from the stalactites hung frozen in midair. It must've freaked Samus out at least a little bit. Our Grovyle looked at me in amazement. "You were right," he whispered.

I let out a whistle of amazement. "Wow. I'm good." Well, actually, I couldn't whistle at all. I could only make a noise that was reasonably close to sounding like a whistle.

"So when's the next one?"

"Um…after this, I think."

We saw a minor flash, this time one of a fully colored limestone cave with a Time Gear spinning in the middle. I wondered why we could see little flashes of the Dimensional Scream until I remembered that these were Big Amy's memories.

"Well…?" asked the Grovyle from the past.

Amy Purima just stared for a long time before finally saying, "…It's here! It's here! It's here!" The two of them jumped up and down in excitements.

"So what did it look like?" asked Grovyle.

Amy Purima started to describe the scene, but then remembered her crayons and paper. She started drawing the scene, but I think her drawing abilities improved a little. Samus watched in awe, Big Amy pulled out her own copy of the exact painting, and our Grovyle just said, "Well, Chikorita? Now you know how I was able to find the Time Gears so quickly."

As if to prove his point, the past Grovyle said, "You know, I don't know what I'd do if you didn't know how to draw so well. This'll be a big help once we get to the past."

"I'm still not sure where it came from…but thanks. 2 down, 3 to go! You think you'll remember to find that invisible door in the center?"

"I don't think either of us could forget something like that." As they turned to leave, Grovyle asked, "Oh yeah, and Amy?"

"Yeah?"

"…Thanks for being there for me. If it weren't for you…I don't know what I'd be like by now."

Aww…! How sweet! But it also broke my heart when I remembered that—

"Yeah, unfortunately, I actually did forget. It was so long ago…and I was so worried about her when we were separated…" said our Grovyle. Hey! That was exactly where my thoughts were going.

But it looked like time for another scene change. I whispered, "Three…two…one…"

* * *

The scene changed again. Chikorita looked at me in amazement. "You know when it's going to change?" she asked.

"Uh…yeah. Part of my storytelling instincts," I explained.

This time, we saw a colorful underground desert lake. Another Time Gear floated in the middle of it. And right at that moment, we saw a pink-headed pixie with a purple body and two jeweled tails fly right in front of us, shouting "I'm Mesprit, the underground lake and Time Gear's awesome guardian! Oh, and by the way…YOU…SHALL…NOT…PASS!"

It was a Dimensional Scream that abruptly ended. Big Amy said, "Oh yeah, I remember that! She said the same thing to us!" We looked around and saw that we were in the same desert lake, only it was grayscale. The little Amy, who was slightly older, freaked out. Grovyle tried to calm her down.

"Who the heck are you two?"

Oh yes. The classic scene where they meet up with Grovyle's parents, Papa Garchomp and Mama Sceptile. After a little scuffle, they explained all about the trio of Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf, and where the other lakes were. I glanced at our Grovyle and wondered why he wasn't overjoyed to see his parents again, until I remembered that since everyone from this dark future got to continue living, he probably saw them all the time for the past two years.

"3 down, 2 to go!"

This time, Big Amy, Chikorita and I all counted, "Three…two…one…"

* * *

Yeah. The scenes were changing faster than we thought. We were in the middle of a ton of fog, and none of us could see where we were. But then, we heard their voices.

"Ooo…pretty." The little Amy picked up a glowing red triangular stone. The Drought Stone.

"I wonder what that is…" said Grovyle, before crashing into something and exclaiming, "OW!" Amy ran up to the object and found it was a huge statue of some sort. I already knew what it said. "Reignite the [blah blah yeah yeah whatever…]"

Amy noticed the indentation in the statue's chest and placed the Drought Stone in there. An earthquake occurred, knocking all of us off our feet. Big Amy and Chikorita kept shouting things like "I remember this! I remember this!" The fog lifted.

Samus probably sensed it was a beginner's puzzle, but was still staring, speechless. So was Amy and Grovyle. Amy finally snapped out of it and said, "I see! You're supposed to place the stone in Groudon's heart! That lifts the fog!"  
Grovyle said, "So **that's** how! Good job, Amy!"

They then looked at each other. After a few seconds, they couldn't take it anymore. They started laughing like crazy, sputtering something about how obscenely easy it was to solve compared to how long it took for them to find it.

Suddenly, another scene change. We were at Fogbound Lake, or what was left of it. The usual Time Gear vision, blah blah blah. I could swear that the scene started going in fast-forward, because their voices became really fast and high pitched as if someone suddenly pressed the fast-forward button. Four down, one to go…yeah…

Our Grovyle was clearly getting bored. And fidgety. He hissed at us, "Hey! Don't just stare! Look for the exit!" Well, we were looking all this time, but so far, we hadn't seen anything that remotely looked like one. And how would we know if we saw one, anyway? It was up to Grovyle to pay attention to anything that seemed out of place. After all, he was the only one who still remembered all this stuff, even if it was all coming back to Big Amy.

"Three...two...one..."

* * *

We suddenly saw the entrance to a cave that looked like it was made entirely out of pink crystals once, but the color had almost completely faded away. "Huh? I don't remember this part…" I said.

"What do you mean?" asked Samus.

"I mean, I never wro—I-I mean, this…was…never…in the game! Yeah!" I quickly caught myself. If I told them I never wrote this in The Heroes of Time…I shuddered. I needed to keep a lid on my mouth. Team Pecha might've been okay with that, but I still had no way of knowing how Grovyle or even Samus would react.

The little Amy Purima dashed inside as fast as she could, looking completely distraught. By then, she wasn't quite so little anymore. Her brown hair was insanely long; down to her waist, and she looked 10 years old—no wait, she was actually 9, so her 10th birthday was coming quickly. Not that I knew which day it was…April 25? It's not like anyone can really tell on this planet.

She shouted, "Grovyle! Grovyle!" in every direction possible, then muttered under her breath, "Where the heck did he go?"

Right then, the sight of the cave made her drop her jaw in awe. There were glowing pink crystals across the ceiling, wedged into the walls, and scattered around the floor, all in unusual brilliance. But that wasn't the most shocking development. Because inside the cave was a whole hidden colony of…Jigglypuffs. Yes, Jigglypuffs! There were a few Igglybuffs, Wigglytuffs, Cleffas, Clefables, and others, but mostly that of Jigglypuffs. In fact, there were so many Jigglypuffs, I would've lost track of where Big Amy was if it wasn't for the red bow on her back. "Awww…!" she and I involuntarily squealed at once.

"This is Quartize Cave! I love Quartzite Cave! We played in here all the time!" shouted Chikorita, jumping up and down.

"Me too! Me too!" agreed Big Amy.

"Ah, no wonder I don't remember this. I wasn't here," mused our Grovyle. "This must've been day that Jigglypuff became her most favorite Pokémon in the world. Besides me, of course." He grinned.

I shushed them. "Everyone stop talking! I've gotta see this."

All the Pokémon in the cave started to panic, but the biggest Wigglytuff said to them, "Shushy, shushy! I'll handle this nicely. You'll see." He then turned to the lost girl and said, "Friendly friend! You don't look to scary. Come, sit down, and take it easy!" Team Pecha and I gasped. Was that Master Wigglytuff?

She did what he said, too stunned to respond.

"Master Wigglytuff the 7th, that's my namie! I got that Master title thingy from my daddy, and his daddy, and his daddy, and his daddy, and his daddy, and his daddy! Long genealogy. What about you?"

Her eyes darted around the place as though worried that someone could be watching. "Uh…um…h-how do I know I can trust you, Master…?"

"What? You can't trust me, a friend? Booo! Booo! You meanie!"

She became increasingly flustered. "N-no wait, it's not that at all! It's just that…whenever I told anyone else my name, they would try to kill us—"

"We won't kill you, just you see! Right, everybody?" he asked the Jigglypuff colony behind him.

They started discussing the matter among themselves, until one said, "Maybe we should tell her about us first, Master Wigglytuff."

"Oh! Rightie right." Master Wigglytuff the 7th sat down and began to explain the story. "Okay…so it all began when time stopped and everyone began to become meanies from the darkness, and…" He then explained how he had to hide the whole group into this place, Quartzite Cave, to protect them from attacks from those dangerous Pokémon. As he told the story, Amy became more and more relaxed.

"My name's Amy Purima. I'm trying to find my friend Grovyle right now. See, we're trying to find places where these things called Time Gears would be…here, have a look…" She pulled out her four Time Gear pictures, and everyone started ooh-ing and aah-ing. She explained her whole story (someone turned on the fast-forward button again), and even demonstrated her drawing abilities by creating another picture. It brought a smile to my face; it was a picture featuring such adorable things as Pecha Berries, more of those red bows, and dominating the center of it all was the cutest Jigglypuff I ever saw.

"We're trying to find a hidden lake around here…do you know where it is?"

"Oh, oh, THAT lakie! It's in Crystal Cave, right next to herie!" He pointed to a tiny entrance into the wall at the end of the cavern. "Wanna come with us to see?"

"Really? You can take me there?"

"Really really!"

"Thanks, uh…Master Wigglytuff!"

He and lots of other Jigglypuff's led Amy though the cavernous maze on the way to Crystal Lake. Soon enough, they were all chatting and having fun, occasionally smacking down some darkness-crazed Pokémon along the way. Amy ended up in a conversation with another Jigglypuff.

"Wait a second, uh…Amy "Per-EE-muh". A human's not a Pokémon, right?"

"Yeah. It really stinks. I always have to let Grovyle handle all the fighting, because whenever I try, I always lose. Always."

The Jigglypuff's eyes went wide open, and she gasped, "Hey, me too!"

Amy suddenly stopped. "You too?"

"Yeah! I can never win against anyone either. By myself, anyway. I don't know how Master Wigglytuff does it. He must be, like, immortal or something."

They both segued into silence, deep in thought. Finally, the Jigglypuff asked, "Well…if you were a Pokemon…who would you want to be?"

"I dunno…I've thought about it for a long time, too. I want to be someone strong…but someone cute, too…and someone like me. Someone like…like…"

She thought for a long, long time. She then stared hard at the Jigglypuff. Finally, a look spread across her face. I knew that look. That must've been the look that I had when I discovered what I truly enjoyed in life…the look I drew myself having in the picture during the art competition in the Pokéathlon Contest.

"…You."

The Jigglypuff stopped. "Me?"

So did Master Wigglytuff. "A Jigglypuff?"

And so did everyone else. "Us?"

The next thing she knew, everyone cheered. They then started singing songs to a tune I recognized as the same tune I heard from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, except that it was longer song from the credits. I loved the epic, upbeat, and deeply moving tune; I never knew that it actually had lyrics…that I quickly forgot. See, I'm no audio learner at all. If someone were to give me a lecture, everything would just go in one ear and out the other. I was worried how I'd do in college. Anyway, as they danced along, I could just tell that Amy Purima felt that for once, just for once…she finally found what was right for her.

Finally! The Crystal Cave! When they reached it, they parted ways and said goodbye, although I could feel that Amy really didn't want to. A few minutes later, Grovyle ran in, shouting, "Amy? WHERE ARE YOU?"

"Grovyle! I'm here! I'm here!"

They ran and hugged each other, both extremely relieved to see each other okay. "Where were you?" they asked each other. Turned out that some crazy Glalie or something a while back held up Grovyle for a bit. Amy then explained the Jigglypuff colony she came across, and Grovyle seemed visibly amazed to hear the revelation she learned.

Anyway, they figured out the whole turn-all-three-crystals-blue solution and found it pretty fast. As the past Grovyle and the almost-10-year-old Amy celebrated their success, our Grovyle winced. I wasn't sure why, until the two of them came out...and Dusknoir and the Sableye ambushed them!

* * *

We were suddenly at the stockade again. The two of them were already tied to the same column in the middle. We watched as Dusknoir tried to execute the almost-10-year-old Amy himself but miss and slash the ropes instead. We watched as they engaged in an epic battle as Amy stood up to Dusknoir for the first time. Even though Amy lost, we watched as Grovyle secretly cut the rest of the ropes and throw a Luminous Orb at Dusknoir. The scene changed. Grovyle was desperately dragging Amy away from the stockade…when Primal Dialga cornered them!

Luckily, we saw Celebi's daring rescue in which she Teleported in, left decoys of the two, and Teleported them out just as Primal Dialga unleashed his Roar of Time.

* * *

We were back in the Planetary Exploration Team's secret hideout. Masquerain and the Pokémon there (a some of them were missing all of a sudden) all cheered and threw a party for their safe return. To our surprise, a lot of the Jigglypuffs from Quartzite Cave were suddenly there. They explained that Amy inspired them to join the cause, and besides, they were pretty bored.

Amy looked around and smiled. "Thanks, guys. Lately, I haven't been sure who to trust anymore."

The Jigglypuff from before came up to them and said, "We made up an epic poem about your adventures. Want to hear it?"

"Yeah yeah yeah!" agreed Amy enthusiastically.

"Okay. Here we go. One, two, three, four!"

_They say that one day, a spaceship flew by,  
Dumped seven humans, went back to the sky.  
See, they wanted to experiment with time,  
But back in their world, it was a high crime.  
The smallest was her, about one year old.  
Yet she learned our language (and stood the cold!).  
He was just a Treecko when he met her,  
And she saved his heart from the dark…Thank you.  
You played around for four years and such,  
But her parents didn't like me very much.  
The Dimensional Scream idea was bad,  
It made Primal Dialga really mad.  
So he sent mean Dusknoir to drag them all  
To punish them for breaking his main law.  
At the stockade, they tied up three by three  
The Sableye went on a killing spree!  
Good thing they saved her for last—  
He wouldn't have made it if he weren't fast.  
Somehow he evolved—we don't know how,  
But it let you escape and be here now.  
They made her watch, she were scarred so bad,  
She couldn't stop crying—it was just that sad,  
Then her Dimensional Scream finally worked  
She saw where the long-lost Time Gear lurked,  
Then new friends found you; it was like a dream;  
The Planetary Investigation Team!  
We saw her picture of the Time Gear,  
And told you the thing you wanted to hear;  
How the planet got paralyzed. Now you know,  
There IS a way to solve this! So…  
For a long, long, time, they say about five years,  
You ran around the world to find those Gears,  
Solving puzzles, dodging Dusknoir's "army",  
You even got lots of help from Celebi!  
She hated how enemies snitched on us,  
So you made a motto to deal with the fuss.  
"Only work with those we both trust."  
And he still remembers that, if know you must.  
In the world of the past, can you possibly  
Complete your mission—and change history?  
The odds certainly won't be on your side,  
Where stupid systems and beliefs reside.  
No matter what happens to everyone here,  
You all truly know there's nothing to fear.  
You'll all fight through to the end of the strife,  
To give everyone the gift of a new life!  
So never forget who you are, or this rhyme,  
You are, forever, the Heroes of Time!_

Both Amy Purimas and Grovyles danced to the exact same music with the exact same moves. In fact, it was so catchy, even Chikorita and I joined in. The only one who wasn't dancing was Samus.

Everyone applauded at the perfect ending pose. Masquerain said, with a smile, "Now if you perform that in the past there's no way anyone can forget your story!" They all laughed, but I could tell that what he said had a much deeper meaning than what they were letting on. It would be really hard to convince any Pokémon from the past that taking the Time Gears was right, and it would only be possible to sing that song to the ones that by some miracle they did convince, such as Master Wigglytuff and the guild's ludicrous crew.

Celebi led the way. Amy Purima and Grovyle followed, and so did Masquerain and a few others. As they went through Deep Dusk Forest to get to the Passage of Time that I already knew was at the end, they had time to discuss things.

"So have you figured out what would happen?" asked Grovyle.

Masquerain replied, "We've researched extensively into the possible results and came to one conclusion. Once the Time Gears are placed in Temporal Tower, time will restore to normal everywhere."

Celebi added, "Yeah. We found that the tower is what really regulates time around the planet, not the Time Gears. Of course, it won't be easy to convince everyone otherwise. I recommend keeping a low profile."

The two of them groaned.

Amidst all of this, I noticed that Amy Purima was acting furtively. She pulled out a certain picture only when she was sure no one was watching. Curious, I glanced at it. It brought a smile to my face; it was the same picture that she drew in Quartzite Cave. The only other ones who noticed were both Grovyles, but they smiled and didn't say anything. Finally, Amy sighed and slipped it back in her pockets.

The party arrived at the Passage of Time, a glowing blue door embedded into a cliff face. We emerged from Deep Dusk Forest in time to see them say their last goodbyes. Grovyle stuffed every single Time Gear drawing into his Treasure Bag, but he allowed Amy to keep that super-secret one. (I imagine the Planetary Exploration Team gave him that Treasure Bag in the first place.)

"You ready, Amy?"

"Ready when you are, Grovyle." She gulped. "S-so this is it, huh? What do you think the past might be like?"

"Don't be scared. We have nothing to go back to…and absolutely nothing to lose."

"Nothing to lose, huh?"

"Don't worry. No matter what happens, we're going to do this together. I promise."

We heard some commotion behind us, but neither of them noticed. Celebi just whispered, "Goodbye, Grovyle…" as the two of them stepped—no, leaped—into the Passage of Time. Right when we decided to follow them, the screaming and destruction sounds got much louder, and we turned to see Dusknoir, the Sableye, and a really angry Primal Dialga destroying stuff in the forest below. With a pang, I realized that they all found where the Planetary Investigation Team was hiding, and that they were killing them all. I gasped and so did Big Amy and Chikorita.

"So that's why we never saw them ever again…not in the games or anything…" I mumbled.

"It's just like a Space Pirate massacre…" whispered Samus in horror. I could tell she was remembering her tragic past when at 3 years old they killed her family and everyone on Planetary Colony K-2L. No way I'd mention that out loud, though.

Grovyle just pushed us to the Passage of Time and said, "There's nothing we can do. Let's go. You guys still have to see how it all ended for us." With heavy hearts, we stepped through.

We were floating though the starry blue void with yellow lines receding into the horizon, the same scene that we all went through when we went back to the future. We fell through thresholds of translucent walls of light at regular intervals with no apparent effect…at least, not that we'd see yet. Our trip seemed to go smoothly, until it suddenly slowed down and got darker…and darker…and darker. Winds started to blow. We could hear sounds of rain and thunder, getting louder and louder. A movement caught our eye. It was a billowing, familiar Dark-type Pokémon in the distance. Big Amy and Chikorita blanched and whispered in shock, "Darkrai."

"So **that's** Darkrai…" whispered our Grovyle. Darkrai flew closer and closer, charged up a Dark Pulse attack, and threw it right at the almost-10-year-old Amy and past Grovyle. It missed, but just barely, and spun them around instead.

"AAAH! Wh-wh-whoa! Wha-what's going on?"

"Are…are you okay, Amy?"

"Yeah, but…what was that?"

We held our breaths as Darkrai launched another Dark Pulse. It also barely missed, but it grazed them instead, getting more accurate and threatening to tear them apart. The wind and sounds of rain and thunder increased, adding to the maelstrom.

"No! Don't let go! Just a little longer…Come on! Hang on!"

"But…I can't…"

By that time, Darkrai had gotten so close that Amy could finally see him. He charged up one final Dark Pulse, clearly aiming at Grovyle. Only Amy saw that, though, and she gasped, "LOOK OUT!"

She swung around to take the blow, and I couldn't watch. "NO!" shouted the past Grovyle. I opened my eyes and saw that the attack had wrenched them apart. Darkrai chuckled in evil triumph and flew away.

"Grovyle!" she shouted, flying away. She started to glow, and I realized that this was the moment she was starting to turn into a Jigglypuff. The impact from the blow spun her around and around, and each threshold wall of light we passed made her glow even brighter. Her arms, legs, hair, and her whole body in general slowly shrunk, from her original height of 4'3" to a new height of 1'8". The only thing that wasn't affected was the super-secret cute Jigglypuff picture, and I could swear that the magical light was actually drawing upon it to assist in the transformation. I almost missed all of these observations since the light was shining so brightly. It reminded me of a magical girl transformation sequence, albeit one that I personally thought would be really cool for me experience.

"WAAAAH!" they both shouted as the tunnel ended and darkness from the past's night engulfed them.

We were falling. Falling through a storm of wind and rain. A thunderstorm. We could see the whole continent of Planet Portania in the past. We saw the anguished look on the past Grovyle's face as he fell towards the intended destination—Treeshroud Forest. We saw, with horror, Amy (now a Jigglypuff) plunging straight into the stormy sea, spinning out of control. We saw the past Chikorita sleeping in Sharpedo Bluff, illuminated by the lightning. (Our Chikorita pointed and shouted, "Hey! That's me! That's me! I can't believe I was actually **sleeping** at a time like that!") And tears came to my eyes when I saw the how the storm shredded whatever remained of the super-secret cute picture.

And it was exactly then when we saw it. A glowing whirlpool in the sea, emitting rainbow-colored light, almost like a shining spot from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. My instincts told me that was it. Odd. Unlike the Ben 10 episode, that was exactly where I **most **expected it to be. "Look!" I shouted. "The exit!"

Four pairs of eyes followed my finger. "Hold on!" shouted Grovyle. I grasped Big Amy and Chikorita, and Samus and Grovyle held on to me. Samus helped aim us straight towards the whirlpool. I squeezed my eyes shut. Whether it was an illusion or not, my stomach felt tight and queasy at the sensation of falling.

After what felt like an eternity, we finally fell through. We braced ourselves. There could be any kind of horrible experimentation on the other side. But I knew what we'd find for sure: Zork, Zark, and most importantly of all, Zoroark.

To be continued…

**Coming up next: We just came out of the frying pan **…and Into the Fire**. Do any of you know how to defeat Mother Brain—whom for some reason happens to speak like GLaDOS—with no Ice Beams, Super Missiles, or any of Samus' traditional weapons whatsoever? No? Well, NEITHER DO I!**


	12. And Into the Fire

Chapter 12: …And Into the Fire

"…Bad nooz, Boss-Man. Dey woke up."

I blinked my eyes open. Massive metal titanium bands pinned me to an operating wall of some sort. Big Amy and Chikorita were to my left and right, respectively, similarly pinned. I was amazed they were able to pin a Jigglypuff to the wall, but they did. As a result, the band covering her mouth prevented her from saying anything. Now that I thought about it, it felt like we were being tied up at the stockade, only this stockade featured needles, syringes, computer monitors, and other nasty scientific equipment in front of us. Finally, some squishy helmet had clamped itself over our heads, and because of it, I couldn't turn my head very far. Wait. These helmets had teeth, and they made screeching noises. No way. No way! These were parasite thingies from Sigma Star Saga!

Just then, the meanie-butts leapt down from the ceiling in front of us like a pair of creepy spiders. It turned out that the whitewashed surgically clean room we were in was wider than we thought; we were merely in an enclosed section of the room for test subjects. Chikorita and I started to scream, but the parasite helmets chomped on our heads and stopped us. Zark and Zork grinned.

"So. How do u n00bs like dem l33t parasites?" sniggered Zark.

"Congrats! 4 a bunch of n00bs, dat wuz straight l33t-ness!" congratulated Zork condescendingly. More than anything, I wanted to burst out of there and kick their butts, but the bands were too tight, and besides, how far would I get with my limited martial-arts skills versus their futuristic weaponry? I briefly wondered if staying stuck in Big Amy's memories was a better idea.

"So. Now Wii know dat u all come from a time dat don't exist no more. Dat's why u r emitting dat l33t energy stuff—b/c u r distorting space & stuff!"

My heart skipped a beat. I remembered that back in Team Pecha's day, Team Skull never even once realized the truth about them, nor their destiny to save the world. Of course, their ignorance could be explained by the fact that they were just bumbling gangster dudes who never had anything to do with Primal Dialga or Darkrai. But this was different. Teh Pirates Who Don't Do Nothin' were well in cahoots with the main bad guy Boss-Man Zoroark. It disturbed me to hear them now that they knew who my friends really were.

"Shut up, Zark! Teh Boss-Man iz here!"

They made way for the sadistically grinning Zoroark, striding through the computers and equipment before walking straight towards me. I squeezed my eyes shut. I hate it when a stranger walks straight towards me like they're going to be so blunt and direct. I hate it even more when that stranger is someone I know for a fact is evil, someone who smiles so condescendingly, and most importantly of all, has the temerity to do so after they have the nerve to experiment on me…invading MY PERSONAL SPACE!

He stroked the parasite, coaxing it to stop crushing my head. "Aww…why so scared?" he purred, forcing my chin toward him with a really sharp claw of his. A shiver went down my spine. My skin crawled all over. My heart hammered. The creep! He was scaring me on purpose!

"Wh-what kind of sick operation IS this?" I seethed.

"I'm afraid you're too late, Amy [you know who]. We've already completed the necessary extractions that our grand mistress requires. No offense." He held up a wet, sticky scalpel to prove his point.

"Eww!" I flinched. I used to be perfectly fine at the sight of blood, but whom was I kidding? I certainly couldn't take it anymore. "Wh-what do you want with us, Zoroark?"

"All of your energy sources, but especially yours. We have found that such energy as yours has the unique property…to create life. Now that my friends the Space Pirates are harnessing it, they can finally revive their former commanders. They will crush the Galactic Federation and rule the galaxy their way. And everything that you, Amy [you know who] love so deeply, will be under our control at last."

He looked at Chikorita and Big Amy, who were still struggling to talk. "Oh yes. And how could I forget Amy Vee Purima and Chikorita, otherwise known as the reviled Team Pecha? I looked up to Darkrai, you see. He was practically a father to me. But you had to end his wonderful dream twice…and turn all Pokémon against Dark-types like me! I shall accomplish his dream this third time." He pointed at the parasites on our heads. "See this device? It dredges up memories from the past and traps you and your friends in them, forcing you all to live through a permanent nightmare…that I can control at will. I received the inspiration from Darkrai, you see. This is my method of taking my revenge. I control when you can move freely…and when you can't," he concluded, winking at me.

I paled. "Wait. **You** were the one who trapped us in the stockade, didn't you?"

"Correct. So you see, Amy [you know who], we can't allow you all to leave. The Space Pirates on this planet have taken an unorthodox interest in your…biologies, so to speak. Sad to say, we shall lock you all here for the rest of your lives. Hope you've prepared your psychologies for the trauma of…probes."

Zark and Zork sniggered at the sound of the word "probes". It made me so furious, I—

"YOOM…TAH!"

What do you know? Big Amy managed to use Hyper Voice to blast off the titanium bars and blow Zark, Zork, and Zoroark off their feet. They landed against the far wall, dazed.

Suddenly, a door to the right of the room heaved as if a missile blasted it, and it opened. It was Samus and Grovyle! Grovyle ran to us and slashed at the weak spots of the titanium bands, freeing Chikorita and me. Samus shot several missiles at the evil threesome, and this time, they didn't have any annoying reflector shields from Star Fox to protect themselves with. We ran out of the containment area through the tiny gap to our right and made a run for the door of the wide room. As I ran, I didn't feel any sore places where they might've used a scalpel on me, and I concluded that Zoroark was merely lying to scare me. By this time, Samus curled into Morph Ball, rolled up to them, and planted a Power Bomb. "RUN!" she ordered.

We did. Because I already knew how big a Power Bomb's explosion could be, I ended up running faster than the Pokémon, and had to drag them to keep up with me. KA-BLOOIE! We might've run down the eerie red-glowing hallway, but the explosion just barely missed us. A second later, Samus caught up to us and curled out of Morph Ball. "This way! Adam's waiting for us!" she exclaimed. We followed her.

Just then, an alarm blazed through the place. "Code red! Code red! We have an escape! Quarantine the base! All personnel, report for duty! Activate secret assets K-23, R-12, and MB-33!"

We had no idea what those secret assets were at the time, but we were too busy running for our lives to really care. All we could do was follow Samus and hope no stray Space Pirate laser hit us and give us any massive infections or worse. Actually, I was pretty sure that whole massive infection thing was a joke, but Samus never joked around, so…I preferred not to find out.

"So finish your story. What happened after that?" asked Samus.

I stared at her in disbelief. Here we were, running for our lives, and she wanted me to tell her everything that happened in my friends' lives? Maybe she was used to these situations already—oh yeah. She escapes from self-destructing bases all the time. I guess at this point, she was more into the unusual lives of my friends, so I racked my brains and tried to summarize the plot of the DS games.

I took at deep breath and said, "So Chikorita found Amy on that beach and they formed Team Pecha and had fun and stuff! Okay, so there were the meanie-butts—I mean, Team Skull, but yeah! Then everyone thought that Grovyle was stealing Time Gears so they made him a wanted criminal, and Team Pecha fought him but lost, and then Dusknoir came from the future and pretended to be their friend! Grovyle almost got the last Time Gear, but Dusknoir captured him and dragged him back to the future. Same thing with Amy and Chikorita since Amy lost her memories. Then Dusknoir blabbed to them that Amy used to be a human; I mean Grovyle's best friend, and they got away back to the past. They became friends and Grovyle told them the truth. Then they convinced everyone that Grovyle was a good guy. Finally, when they collected the Time Gears to try to place them in Temporal Tower, Dusknoir came back, so Grovyle had to leave Amy and Chikorita to make Dusknoir stay in the future. They stopped the dark future from happening, but because of that paradox, Amy disappeared, and so did Dusknoir and Grovyle and everyone in the future, only someone brought them all back, someone like Arceus, I think. Then a year later Team Pecha found it was all a conspiracy by Darkrai, so they defeated him. And sometime after that, you met them, and here we are. Got it?" I gasped and panted as I finished.

"About 75% or so. You'll have to elaborate more on it later."

During the whole time, we ran through all kinds of corridors. Big Amy hung on to my head as usual, and I could swear that Grovyle kept giving me those suspicious glances. Didn't he already know how much I knew? Maybe he was worried about something else. Right then, a security wall slammed right in front of us, and Big Amy, Chikorita, and I all shouted, "AAAH!"

Samus located the weak spot in the center of the wall and started blasting it, but she was too late. Space Pirates from the rafters above started shooting lasers at us, forcing us to dodge them around the room. During this time, Chikorita managed to ask, "Hey Samus, what about your past—?"

She never got to finish. Right then, a Space Pirate in a control room somewhere above us made the floor heave sideways, and we all fell into the wall on the left. As luck would have it, Chikorita fell right on top of Big Amy, causing her to lose her grip. They tumbled onto the same spot on the wall, which turned out to be a trapdoor, which they disappeared though.

"Amy! Chikorita!" I shouted. So did Grovyle. We pounced on the trapdoor, but it was too late. It already closed. And to make matters worse, more trapdoors underneath us opened and sent us down slides.

"AAAAAAH!" I practically screamed. It was like going down one of those enclosed tube slides at a water park, only there was no water. Since I learned to like water parks at the age of 13, they'd normally thrill me now, but the fact that it was also pitch black made me panic that there'd be some garbage dump of death at the end just like in Star Wars Episode IV or worse yet, the slide that lasts forever in that one Goosebumps book. Luckily, it ended pretty quickly. I shot out the end into a mechanical room filled with the same reddish-yellow light and landed on my back, hard. "Ooow…" I groaned, rubbing my sore back.

"Oh. You found me. Congratulations. Was it worth it?" droned a computer voice of some sort. For some odd reason, the tone of voice reminded me of that homicidal computer GLaDOS from Portal. Well, who knows? I should expect these crazy crossovers by now.

I looked up and saw that I was sitting in front of a tank of some sort. There was a giant brain resting in it, squirting bubbles. Did that brain just talk? "Wh-who are you?" I asked, because I really wasn't sure whether it was It, Mother Brain, or something from a nightmare that I forgot a long time ago.

"Who am I? Perhaps a better question would be, who are you? No wait, don't tell me. I already know. You are Amy [you know who], who mysteriously disappeared in the year 2010 at the age of 18. But we all know who you really are. You have the energy I need to revive Kraid, Ridley…and myself. That's right. You know who I am." The voice managed to be both monotone and sarcastic at the same time.

A single eye on the brain opened, and if I remembered correctly, there was a circular computer behind the eye buried inside the brain. It glared. Then it quivered, it rose, and it shattered the glass container, sending that mysterious liquid sloshing over the floor and knocking me off my feet. The slide door closed behind me. I looked up in horror as the creature's real 25-foot-tall body rose from out of the ground, towered over me, glared, and grinned with a mouthful of ghastly teeth. It was a bipedal mutant with scaly-tough skin, an unusually long tail, and spikes covering its limbs all over.

"M-Mother Brain?" I gasped.

"Precisely," she hissed nastily as she charged up a laser beam.

A million thoughts flew through my head. Mother Brain. Mother Brain, the final boss of the original Metroid and Super Metroid games! This was bad. I only ever played Metroid Fusion. I had no idea how to beat her. And even if I did...I looked around the wide room at its girders, stair steps, wires, and tubes hanging from all sorts of elevations, and came to one conclusion. There was no way I could find anything in here that allowed me to do so. What could I do? What could I do? What was I going to do?

* * *

_Like me, Grovyle falls down a dark, enclosed slide. He is spit out into a different room, one with green walls and floors thick with vegetation. He lands on some spikes, hard._

Grovyle: YEEOUCH!

_He retreats to a spot without spikes and calms down before taking a good look at his surroundings. There is a mass of spikes and scaly skin in the center of the gigantic room._

Grovyle: (Huh. Weird place. I hope Amy and Chikorita are okay. My instincts are telling me that those Space Pirates are trying to split us up on purpose.)

_Suddenly, the mass in the center twitches. Grovyle is suddenly on full-alert mode._

Grovyle (sniffing the air): (That thing just moved, I know it did. Doesn't smell like a Pokémon at all. Must be alien of some sort.)

_The mass erupts into a 40-foot tall green scaly creature with three eyes, a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth, two arms with three long claws each, and a stomach with three extra limbs that he can fire out at will. _

Kraid: GRRROOOOAAAAR!

Grovyle: Who are you?

Kraid: Me, Kraid. Kraid hungry! Kraid must eat you!

Grovyle (turning his game face on): Riiiight. Bring—it—on!

_Grovyle jumps up to the branches above and engages in combat with Kraid. Meanwhile, Amy and Chikorita are still going down their own crazy slide._

Amy and Chikorita (holding on tight to each other): AAAAAAAAAAH! (What the heck IS this twisted thing?)

_Finally, the slide spits them out into a mostly rocky room. Steam emerges from some of the holes in the rocks, and they can see some lava threatening to boil up through. Chikorita panics and jumps atop Amy's head._

Chikorita: AAAAH! Lava! Lava! Lava! Get it away from me!

Amy: Ooh—ow! Calm down, Chikorita! I'm sure we'll find a way out of here back to the others.

Chikorita: But I have to ride you, okay? And I can't get off until you find the way out of here.

Amy: Nngh…You're really heavy, you know…?

Chikorita: Hurry it up already!

Amy: Okay, okay!

_Amy runs across the circular room hoping to reach the rock formations jutting out of the wall on the other side. She thinks that if she climbs them, she will find a way out. However, they don't even get halfway across the room when an aerial creature swoops down and grabs them both!_

Amy and Chikorita: AAAH! *ack*!

Amy: Wh-who are you?

Ridley: Of courssssse you wouldn't know me, little girls. Heheheh…I'm Ridley!

_He then flies up at insane speeds, corkscrewing all around, and slams them against the hot rock wall._

Chikorita: Stop…Stop!

Ridley: Why should I ssssstop? I'm going to…heheh…torture you two as much as I want!

_Ridley continues to laugh dementedly as he drags them across the wall. It's really painful. Finally, he slams them against the ground and chuckles even more as he conjures up a ball of fire in his mouth._

Ridley: Heheheheh…hope you like flamethrowers, grasssssss girl!

Chikorita: NOOOOO! Let me go let me go let me gooooo!

Amy (glaring): (This crazy guy's really going to kill her! I have to stop him now!)

_Finally, Samus freaks out the least since she immediately enters Morph Ball mode and rolls down the slide like it's the easiest thing in the world. She pops out in a shiny, sterile room with green lines glowing up and down it. She looks all around with her arm cannon at the ready._

Samus (annoyed): (If it's not one thing, it's another. Sure, I can stay here all day if I wanted to, but can't afford to keep Adam waiting. I'd better find those kids as fast as I can. Unlike me, I'm not sure how long they can stay before the Space Pirates find them.)

_Suddenly, she senses something falling from above and rolls out of the way in time._

Samus: Sylux!

Sylux: NICE REFLEXES. TOO BAD FOR YOU.

_Sylux shoots several rounds of Shock Coils at Samus, who retaliates by going into Morph Ball and launching all manner of bombs and Power Bombs at him. He goes into Lockjaw form and tries to trip her up with electrically charged bombs, which she jumps over by reverting back to Power Suit mode. But that's what Sylux anticipates. He reverts back to his normal form and pins Samus against the wall, aiming a gun at her that suddenly changes shape._

Samus: That's…!

_It's the Suit Deactivator Beam. He fires it before Samus can turn into Morph Ball, and now she's back in Zero Suit mode with no way of calling back the Power Suit._

Sylux: NOT SO POWERFUL WITHOUT YOUR POWER SUIT, HUH? NOW LET'S FINISH THIS EXECUTION.

Samus: (I don't need my Power Suit to beat guys like you.)

_Slyly, behind her back, she activates her laser whip._I slowly opened my eyes. Not a scratch. Then I realized that my spacesuit came back!

* * *

"Ha. You just got lucky," drolled Mother Brain like she'd been expecting it all along. "I guess those Galactic Federation prototype weapons all have some kind of defect. Sylux won't be happy when he finds out."

I ran up the rafters, dodging Mother Brain's beam attacks and projectiles, my heart hammering too hard to say anything in response. Along the way, I realized that not only did I have no arm cannons, but that my Colette spacesuit, unfortunately, didn't come with any swords, shields, or even circlets whatsoever. And I couldn't find any rings that would allow me to shoot magical spells like Firaga, Angel Feathers, or whatever. I had no other choice. When I reached up to where Mother Brain's head was, I charged and unleashed the most powerful jump kick I could muster.

It had no effect.

"You idiot," she shot as she smacked her head into me, shoving me off the rafters. I could only yell "AAAAUUGH!" as I fell though the air. Despite the number of cords I grappled onto as I fell, I still landed hard on the ground. The height might've normally given me critical injuries, but thanks to the suit, I got off with only a sore back.

"Did you just jump-kick me? For real? That has got to be the dumbest thing I've ever seen. Did you forget to check the label on your spacesuit? It clearly says, "For defensive purposes only", which means it has absolutely nothing on offense. It also says, "Dry clean only." Knowing you, you'd throw it in the washer along with a white load, only to find, too late, that it's permanently ruined. Well? Sound familiar? Anyway, that accursed Samus Aran would've come up with a plan ten times better than yours by now. It embarrasses me that such an idiotic weakling could possibly become my superior officer one day."

My face paled. "What…did you say?"

"Oh? Did I just break the laws of time and space? I guess so. I said too much already."

I struggled to get up. "Why would I be your superior offi—?"

Mother Brain immediately stomped on my chest, knocking out my breath and pinning me to the ground. "I did not say anything. You did not hear anything. It was all in your head," she practically sang, with a big, evil, toothy grin spreading across her face. "Just your imaAAAaagination."

She crushed me harder and harder, and I had a terrifying feeling that the suit wouldn't be able to last much longer. The sick irony of the situation hit me right there. What would be the point of forgetting what she just said if she was going to kill me anyway?

* * *

_Quick as a flash, Samus squirms out of Sylux's grasp and somersaults over him, running the laser whip over him in the process. Before he can react, she leaps and slices him over and over and over again until he finally falls down, while making it look like the most graceful thing in the world._

Sylux (too stunned to move): … … …

Samus: It's not too late to get your money back, you know.

_Except, of course, that Samus knew that Sylux didn't pay any money for that weapon; She already knows that he stole it from the Federation, and that's where the irony comes in. Curious about it anyway, she kneels down and unscrews the weapon from Sylux's arm cannon thingie._

Samus: You know what? Why don't I take it back for you? You might have to rest here for a while. No, you don't have to thank me. Just doing my job. (…Job? Hah. Assuming I ever get it back.)

_A door automatically unlocks itself near the top of the room, so Samus space-jumps all the way to the top, carrying both the weapon and her laser whip. Since she can't use her Power Beam at the moment, she laser-whips the door and enters. On the other side, she suddenly finds herself in the midst of a heating battle. She sees a very frustrated-looking Grovyle using Leaf Blade, Dig, any attack he can on Kraid, and yet Kraid never has a scratch on him._

Samus: Grovyle! Aim for his mouth!

Grovyle: What the—? Samus?

_Grovyle looks in the direction where Samus' voice came from. He loses his focus when he sees that she's back in Zero Suit mode again. Kraid takes the opportunity to bend down, chomp, and swallow him whole!_

Samus (revolted): …!

Kraid: Oh. Bounty hunter lady. Kraid remember you. …Kraid still hungry. Maybe Kraid eat you too—*ACK*!

_Before Kraid knows it, Grovyle unleashes Leaf Blade fury on the guy's throat. Kraid spits Grovyle out before long, and then collapses. As Grovyle shakes the saliva off of himself, Samus crosses the room in a single bound and laser-whips Kraid's mouth one more time. He faints._

Grovyle: His mouth, huh? Would've been good to know that.

Samus: I fought the guy several times before. Besides, most armored creatures like that have such weak points. Common sense, if you know what I mean.

_Grovyle runs his tongue around his mouth and finds that, yes, it does feel like a weak spot._

Grovyle: Oh yeah, I get it. So Sylux hit you with that beam again, Samus?

Samus: Yeah. But I swiped it, as you can see here. I took care of him too, naturally.

Grovyle: How many of these guys do you know?

Samus: Both of them. Kraid is just some Space Pirate general that's not too hard to beat. Sylux, on the other hand…he hates the Galactic Federation, and since I'm their best bounty hunter, he really hates me too. What I don't understand is, since when did Sylux team up with the Space Pirates?

Grovyle: Don't ask me. I'm not familiar with these interplanetary politics. Besides, don't you think we should get to finding the two Amy's and Chikorita?

Samus: Good idea. Let's go.

_Grovyle immediately takes to climbing the tree limbs and vines jutting out of the walls on the way to the top. But it doesn't take long before Samus quickly passes him in speedrunning mode despite the weapons she's holding. _

Grovyle: (Dang! I don't think I've **ever** had to catch up with a human before! My Amy was never that fast. Is this what a fully-grown human is capable of? Or did she just train all her life? Either way…she's good!)

_They reach the next room, where they see Ridley pinning Amy and Chikorita to the rocky ground. Amy's Hyper Voice is blowing Ridley's flamethrower in all directions, including his mouth, scorching him._

Ridley: YEOUCH! Why, you—!

Grovyle: Amy! Chikorita!

Amy: What the—? Grovyle?

_Ridley flies up again, and Samus space-jumps up there. Unfortunately, he smacks her back down as he drags Amy and Chikorita against the wall again._

Ridley: S-Samus? I thought Sylux was sssupposssssed to dissspossse of you!

Samus: Why don't you put the children down and try me, one on one?

Ridley: No. I'll ssssslay all of you at oncccce!

Grovyle (furious): She said LEAVE THEM ALONE!

_Ridley shoots a flamethrower through Grovyle, Amy, and Chikorita at once, but Samus dodges it. She races up to Ridley and jabs her laser-whip in his mouth, causing him to howl in pain, dropping the little girls. The three Pokémon recover and see that Ridley's mouth is also his weak spot, so they combine their attack at him._

Grovyle: Leaf Blade!

Chikorita: Solarbeam!

Amy: YOOM…TAH!

Samus (using one more laser-whip): This is for my mom, you murderer!

_They all hit._

Ridley: C-c-curssssse you, Samus and all of you…Curssssse YOOOOOOUUUU!

_And he faints too._

Amy and Chikorita: YAAAY! We did it we did it we did it!

Grovyle (to Ridley): And I'm going to do that to anyone who hurts them too!

Amy: Samus? You can still fight without that space suit thingy?

Samus: Of course. In fact, it's even easier, since it's not bogging me down. More dangerous, but easier.

Chikorita: Hey…Isn't that the—?

Samus (holding the gun up): It is. Nasty little piece of work. I have a theory, though, on how it works…

Amy: Wait, Ms. Aran. He killed your mom?

Samus: Flamethrower. I was 3 years old. I'd rather not talk about it.

Grovyle: Hey guys, is it me, or are we missing someone?

Amy and Chikorita (sudden realization): …**Little Amy!**

_They run to the platforms, climb them up, and reach the door on the other side._

* * *

Two leaf attacks and a really loud noise shot at Mother Brain, causing her to stumble back and free me from being crushed. I looked where they came from: Big Amy, Chikorita, and Grovyle! Samus was there too, in her Zero Suit, and I wondered if the reason they came so fast was because they were all speedrunning (a hardcore way of completing an entire Metroid game in less than two hours, which, personally, I could never do). As the three Pokémon charged, Samus muttered, "Let me test something out." She then zapped me with that suit deactivator beam!

"HEY! What was** that** for?" I complained. "How the heck did you get that, anyway?"

Within a few seconds, her Power Suit came back on. "I see. So it only works on one suit at a time," she said, seemingly ignoring me.

"But—but—" I meant to say that if Mother Brain hit me one more time when I was like this, I'd be done for.

"Don't worry, kid. We'll handle this." With that, she raced to join the Pokémon in the battle.

Mother Brain's voice dripped with contempt. "Samus Aran. I see you're still alive and well. Oh, I've been busy…being **dead**, you **murderer.**"

"You hypocrite!" was all Samus had to say. She shot several Ice Beams at Mother Brain's head, freezing it. Then she shot too many rounds of Super Missiles for me to count. The ice shattered in a million pieces, causing Mother Brain to collapse.

That was it. The battle was over just like that. My jaw dropped. Mother Brain was right. Samus did think of an ingenious battle strategy way faster than I ever could. On the other hand, she actually had the weapons to do the job, whereas I didn't. The three Pokémon just groaned. Maybe they were hoping that the battle would last longer or something. I ran up to the four of them, who were standing around the fallen Mother Brain.

"You know her too, Samus?" asked Grovyle.

"Know her? Hah! She's even worse than Ridley! You think she's a benevolent little computer-in-a-brain, looking out for your best interests, but noooo…she works for the Space Pirates instead. The Chozo, they never listened to me. Cost them their lives. I'd** really** rather not talk about it."

"Correct…you are…heh heh…" groaned Mother Brain.

The four of them were about to strike again, but right then, a sound stopped us. A dimensional hole opened behind us, over the platform that covered the hatch where the slide spit me out of. Our jaws dropped. Compared to everyone else, I had reason enough to worry; I had a front-row seat, so to speak, of who or what was coming out, so the four of them ran in front of me to meet the mysterious visitor.

"Just in time. She's coming…" wheezed Mother Brain. "Our…grand mistress."

"Wh-who is she?" I asked, not taking my eyes off of the hole. My teeth chattered. I remembered Zoroark mention this mysterious lady too, but I was too frightened to ask him about her. Furthermore, what kind of alien lady could possibly have the power to make Mother Brain, the tall, intimidating, all-powerful Mother Brain, answer to her? I could only shudder.

If I did look back, I would've seen Mother Brain smirk evilly. "The woman is terrifying. She can identify your pasts, your hopes and dreams, and your weak spots. She can make your worst fears come true. She can break you to your very soul. And worst of all? She knows **everything**. Hope you're all ready to die. Painfully." That was the last thing Mother Brain said before she fainted.

We saw the shape of the person emerging. I gasped. This wasn't an alien. This was a human.

Not just any human.

She was a woman with short, cropped dark-brown (or was it black?) hair, black, provocative clothes, and spikes all over as accessories. Her body looked like that of an unusually mature 22-year-old, and dark, pulsating energy emitted from her wrists and back, enabling her to float in midair. But her face…her evil, smirking, sadistic face…I couldn't breathe.

"No way…" gasped Big Amy and Chikorita simultaneously.

"Who **are** you?" I barely managed to choke out; terrified I already knew the answer.

It was a face I only ever saw in mirrors. A face that hadn't changed at all. And when she spoke, I was 99% sure I knew her voice. The words she said were the words I once heard in a video in health class…the words I never, ever, wanted to hear from a woman like her.

"I'm you…from the future."

To be continued…

**Coming up next: Did you really think my existence was the only reason why this story was called The Other Amy? Apparently, it wasn't. That woman was the real reason! Now we're in for the fight of our lives against her…**The Other Me**. Can we win? Can we even get off the Pirate Homeworld alive? And even if we can, will my friends ever look at me the same way again? Furthermore, if she's really me from the future…why in the world does she want us to know about her existence? Why is she trying to kill us? I don't understand!**


	13. The Other Me

Chapter 13: The Other Me

Her dark brown eyes, with a glint of orange, triumph gleaming in them, bore into mine. She smirked, fully expecting this very reaction from me. Big Amy, Chikorita, Grovyle, and Samus slowly turned around, with abject looks of disbelief on their faces, taking in the fact that both hers and mine were exactly the same. They looked back and forth between us. I couldn't move. I couldn't think. I couldn't say a thing.

Three Amy's. **Three** Amy's, again! Me, Big Amy, and the other me up there. How could it have come to this? What could possibly, within the next four years, enable me to undergo a complete 180 degree transformation of my personality, my values, and yes, even my fashion? Was it college? This adventure? Or something much, much worse? Me: at 18, still young and innocent. Her: at 22, voluptuous, cosmopolitan, evil, leader of the Space Pirates, and dripping with power. How, how, HOW? And for that matter, why was she even showing me herself at all? It made no sense.

She rose into the air and charged up a ball of dark energy. All I could shout to my friends was, "LOOK OUT!"

We dodged out of the way just as the energy exploded on impact, kicking up the metal tiles on the ground. We climbed up to the rafters and prepared to fight the doppelganger, but Grovyle stopped me and Team Pecha, ordering, "No, don't! Go ahead of us and find the exit. We'll handle this."

Samus added, "Besides, I have way more experience fighting doppelgangers than any of you. We'll be fine." I believed her. After all, she fought against Dark Samus in the Prime series and the SA-X in Metroid Fusion.

With that settled, I picked up Big Amy and ran up the stairsteps up the ladders one way, with Chikorita close behind, trying to get as far away from the maelstrom as we could, while Grovyle and Samus climbed the other way, going into battle mode. We climbed higher and higher, desperately looking for a way out. If I were to look back, I would've seen the doppelganger easily dodge all of Grovyle and Samus' attacks, and even if one hit, she'd block it with a shield of dark energy.

It was only their shouts of pain that made me look back.

The doppelganger wielded two whips made of dark energy and slashed them at Samus and Grovyle's necks over and over again. In the Pokémon video games, it was called a Critical Hit. In Metroid Prime Hunters, it was called a Headshot. But no matter what it was called, there was no mistaking it. Mother Brain was right again. This lady knew exactly where their weak points were. Finally, she chucked them right at us, and we barely dodged in time.

Quick as a flash, she caught up to us, freaking my friends out. She lashed out at them, tossing them aside, and then started strangling me with eight tentacles of dark energy that materialized out of her back. I gasped, "If you're from the future…then why…are you trying to kill me?"

She flew in close and sneered, "Silly child. I'm not trying to kill you. I'm trying to show you exactly how powerful you will become in only four short years. Aren't you tired of being the weakest link in this little group of so-called friends? You, too, will become the kick-butt fighter girl you've always wanted to be. Feel this energy. Feel it!" A wave of dark energy cut through me, almost like in Star Wars Episode VI. As I shouted in excruciating pain, I realized how Luke had felt.

"And that's only on the lowest setting," she whispered.

After it was over, I finally managed to gasp, "Why would I ever…want to hurt…my friends?"

She smiled nastily as she went into her speech, which she had no doubt prepared every last word of. "Plans change. Very soon, these so-called friends of yours will abandon you when you need them the most. You can probably feel it, can't you? They're afraid of you and your so-called unnatural amount of knowledge. And when that happens, you'll wonder why you ever looked up to them. The Galactic Federation, too, will treat you like a criminal too, because you were never supposed to exist. And that's why you eventually will become the new grand mistress of the Space Pirates. They're a hive-mind species, you know. You will gain enough power to defeat Mother Brain, and then they will obey your every word. No more tantrums, sweetie. Take it from me. Once you become like me, you'll be able to think **much…more…clearly!** Remember Grandma Verdona from Ben 10: Alien Force? She was right all along."

My insides churned. She really was me from the future. Only I would be able to make relatively obscure cultural references like that. But before she could go any further on how "grown-up parties are so much better", Big Amy slammed into the doppelganger with Rollout, while Chikorita charged up a Solarbeam and launched it. The impact was enough to make her drop me. "Just shut it, you fake! She's our friend, and you're never turning her to the dark side! Never never never never never!" shouted Chikorita.

By that time, Grovyle and Samus recovered. Grovyle shouted at us, "She's too powerful! We have to retreat! Samus, quick! Where's the ship?"

Samus pointed to a door one floor above us. "Adam's through there. We're close!"

The doppelganger was stunned at the moment, but we knew she wouldn't stay stunned for long. We were about to run for it, but Samus had a better idea. "Kid! Pick up Puffball Girl and Chikorita!"

I did, though Chikorita felt relatively heavy. "Okay…?"

From her left hand, she shot her Grapple Beam at me, reeled me in, and threw us all the way up to the door. We landed in a sprawling heap. "Oooowww…" we groaned. But we had to get moving; Grovyle and Samus were climbing up at full speed. Samus shot a beam at the door, opening it, and Grovyle and the three of us ran through it. She stayed behind to shoot a few more Ice Beams at the doppelganger, only making a giant ice orb thanks to that annoying dark energy shield.

We ran and ran, smacking Space Pirates left and right as they descended to stop us. I mean, my friends did the smacking, while I just ran for my life and hoped not to get hit. We ran through three reddish corridors before we finally found the oh-so-welcome purple ship, sitting in the middle of a familiar platform—oh yeah! This **was **the Space Pirate Homeworld from Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.

"Guys! I've been sitting here for, like, five hours, dodging Space Pirate lasers! Where were you?" shouted Adam's voice from the ship's computer.

"Shut up, Adam!" shot Grovyle and Samus. So did I, but only in my head. Instead, I shouted back in desperation, "Hurry up and get us out of here!"

Samus somersaulted over all of us and landed on the hidden entrance at the top. She had already started the ship by the time the four of us reached the elevator, and we had to clamber on (with Grovyle's help) just as it retracted into the ship. We sprawled out onto the cabin floor, finally relaxing, but Samus and Adam had other ideas. Samus pulled the ship into full throttle.

"Lady! There are 300 Space Pirate aerial lasers locked onto us and 400 TIE-fighters after us!"

"You forgot to mention that homicidal Space Pirate grand mistress who happens to look exactly like our friend the kid here. Give me manual control."

I watched in awe as she managed to steer the ship with only her left hand, while she inserted her Arm Cannon into another appliance that popped up, presumably the controls for the ship cannons. We rose higher and higher, at faster and faster speeds, but despite that, some of those Space Pirate battleships managed to get in front of us and charge up their lasers. Ha. Just my luck that the Space Pirates would start piloting vehicles from Star Wars.

"Everyone hold onto something back there!" ordered Samus. But there were no seatbelts, or even any handles at all, so the only things I could hold onto were Big Amy and Chikorita. To my chagrin, Grovyle also had the same idea, and the four of us became a tight ball of mass.

Considering what happened next, that was probably the best idea we could come up with.

Samus went to town on the steering device. She spun it over and over again, sending the ship into a series of—you guessed it—barrel rolls. She dodged every single enemy laser, and I'm sure she also skillfully aimed the ship's lasers to take out the entire Space Pirate fleet too, but…we were thrown around the cabin, left, right, up, and down. Ow, ow, ow, and ow! Big Amy might've cushioned us a little, but soon enough, a multitude of bruises blistered every side of our bodies. During the ordeal, I vaguely remembered what a camp counselor from Tae Kwon Do camp six years ago said: "If you can't do a barrel roll, it's not a good video game." Well I sure hoped that fanfictions counted too, 'cause by the time it was over, we were twitching in pain and agony!

Finally, we cleared the atmosphere. "Where to, Lady?"

"Planet Portania, on the double!" Before I could ask why, she pushed the hyperdrive to the max.

I looked out the window as the hyperdrive charged up. To my horror, I realized the other reason why Samus performed all those barrel rolls. Above the surface of the Pirate Homeworld, the doppelganger lady was flying, closing in on us in hot pursuit! Big Amy and Chikorita saw her too. "Hurry!" shouted Big Amy.

It activated. We were thrown back against the wall. We were safe! I exhaled in relief.

Or were we?

Everyone else might've been, but I wasn't. I heard a voice whisper in my ear. The doppelganger's voice. "It's not over yet, Amy [you know who]…You can't run away from me. My very existence is proof that you will walk down my path. And if you even try to resist, I promise you, I will break your soul so badly; you'll have no choice but to become me! Heheheheheh!"

* * *

Finally, we exited out of hyperspace and saw Planet Portania below. "Huh? Why are we back here?" asked Chikorita.

Samus didn't answer.

We could only watch in silence as she landed on the planet, in a place with no Pokémon…for then. My mind raced again. What was she mad about this time? Didn't we gain her respect yet? Why wasn't she saying anything? It wasn't until we landed on the planet that she finally spoke.

"Amy Vee Purima and Grovyle? Don't get me wrong. I really respect you guys, I really do. Chikorita, I'm still not so sure. But you, Amy [you know who]…YOU…! I've always thought you were a spoiled, whiny, lazy, good-for-nothing civilian with hardly any manners at all. Well, I was wrong." My heart rose in hope, but when she stood up and turned around, all of those hopes plummeted. I flinched.

She wasn't just angry; she was absolutely livid. "You're only **pretending **to be a spoiled, whiny, lazy, good-for-nothing civilian! By now, I think it's pretty clear that we all know what you'll do to us if you stay with us any longer. I've given you too many chances to earn my trust already. In fact, I should never have trusted you at all! That's what I get for letting civilians come along. You can't trust anyone in this galaxy, least of all an omniscient malicious double-agent Space Pirate spy who's trying to tear my career apart!"

"NO!" I shouted. "I'm not like that, I swear!"

"Yeah, how do you know that everything that crazy lady said wasn't a total lie?" asked Big Amy.

Adam interrupted us, "Whoa whoa whoa! Am I missing something here? What's all this about the kid being a Space Pirate spy?"

Grovyle explained, "While we were escaping, a frighteningly powerful human looking exactly like this other Amy came out from a Dimensional Hole to stop us. The Space Pirates and Mother Brain said that she was their grand mistress…and that she was this other Amy from the future."

"There's no way she could've been me, though!" I complained. "She was evil and nasty and knew all sorts of energy attacks, and besides, I would never in a million years dress like that!" I shuddered at the memory of that…eww…outfit.

Samus continued ranting, "Don't give me that garbage! Isn't it obvious? The Space Pirates want both of you Amy's! Puffball Girl was bad enough; she comes from a time that doesn't exist anymore…but you make her look like a harmless toothpick! Not only are you from the 21st century, you're from the 21st century from another freakin' dimension! And most importantly? You know way too much. You knew everything in Puffball Girl's past, even though you never met. In fact, I bet you know everything in my past too, even though I never told you! Well? Don't you? Don't you?"

My mind froze. I knew I probably should've lied and said I didn't, but on the other hand, I was such a bad liar, she would probably tell in a heartbeat and get even madder. Besides, she was right. The only thing I could squeak out was, "Well…not quite as much as Big Amy's…"

"Ah-HA! That's what I thought. But exactly **how** much do you know?"

My brain was still frozen.

She practically exploded, "Answer me! Answer me, or I swear I will personally dump you and your friends back on this primitive outer rim planet and never come back!" That's what she shouted, but her actions clearly suggested that what she really wanted to do was much, much worse: She had her Arm Cannon pointed at my head, nearly scaring me to death. Big Amy and Chikorita looked at me in dismay. What could I do? If I told her everything, she would kill me. If I didn't tell her anything, she would still kill me. If only I had time to see this coming, I probably would've thought of a solution that would enable me to calm her down and avoid telling her anything at the same time. But my slow-processing introverted brain was made all the worse thanks to the fact that pure, abject terror completely hijacked my ability to think of a better solution. There was only one thing I could say at the time.

"Okay! Okay! I'll tell you."

She removed her Arm Cannon from my head and sat down in the driver's seat, but still glared at me. I took a deep breath and explained, "It all started on Planet K-2L. There was an Earth colony that mined this stuff called Afloraltite, which powers hyperdrive engines. And you lived there with your mom and dad, Rodney and Virginia Aran."

Chikorita interrupted, "Hey wait a second! Little Amy, didn't you say that Virginia was the place where you came from?"

Adam explained, "It's also a woman's name. Now shut up and let her go on. This is juicy stuff."

I continued. "You were only 3 years old when you met these two old Chozo guys named Old Bird and Gray Voice, who wanted some Afloraltite to…create the Metroids or something. Anyway, Mr. Rodney said no, so they had to leave, but then Ridley and the Space Pirates found the colony and **massacred **everyone. Old Bird must've confused you, because while you could be friends with him, you tried to be friends with Ridley, too, and that didn't work out. Your mom protected you from his Flamethrower just in time, and…" I paused, noticing her trying to hold back tears. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, your dad blew up all the Afloraltite the Space Pirates tried to steal."

She interrupted me and said, "You're wrong. He found their bodies and killed them. In front of me."

Big Amy paled and gasped, "Just like…me…!"

My heart skipped a beat. I didn't remember that part of the story. But I had to go on. "Old Bird and Gray Voice got the distress signal, but it was too late. There were no survivors…except you. You were probably hidden under a cushion or something when a building collapsed, but I don't know. Anyway, they decided to rescue you and took you to their home on Planet Zebes. Gray Voice gave you his DNA so you could survive in the planet's harsh atmosphere. It also gave you your awesome jumping abilities, too."

"And Mother Brain was there too."

"Yeah, she was. You didn't like her very much. The Chozo found that you had natural-born warrior instincts that were long gone from their civilization, so for the next 11 years, they trained you how to fight properly. By the time you were ready, they gave you your Power Suit and your gunship, and you left to join the Galactic Federation and become a bounty hunter." I thought it over in my head. She was 14 when she left. Fourteen! I was 18, and I still wasn't 100% sure if I could live on my own, though admittedly, these adventures were helping me get better.

I then summarized the plots of all the Metroid games in the series, in the correct order. Adam was nice enough to give me a few water bottles so I could keep talking. In order, I told them about: Metroid (or Metroid: Zero Mission) for the NES (or the GBA), Metroid Prime for Gamecube, Metroid Prime Hunters for the DS, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, also for Gamcube, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption for the Wii, Metroid 2: Return of Samus for the Game Boy, Super Metroid for the Super NES, and finally, Metroid Fusion for the GBA. I was aware of the fact that Metroid: Other M for the Wii was set between Super Metroid and Fusion, but it wasn't out yet, so I had to leave that part out. I only ever played Fusion, but I thoroughly researched the plots of all the other games. [If you readers out there don't know the details, I'd like it if you would go look them up yourselves. Quite frankly, not only do I need to keep this story moving, but my arms are getting tired of typing.]

Before I could say much more about Fusion, though, Samus came to a conclusion. "So that means you know full well about my X Parasite incident…you knew how precarious it made my career…yet you stowed away, which could only mean one thing. You wanted to get me fired!"

My heart skipped another beat. I shouted, "No! It's Zoroark's fault! He **disguised** himself as Commander Tierney and fired you to make you think it was my fault! Maybe you aren't really fired at all! Go check and see!"

"She's right, she's right, we saw it too!" shouted Big Amy.

"He transformed right after he pulled you out of the room for Sylux to execute you!" pointed out Chikorita.

"I can attest to that too," said Grovyle.

Samus ignored us all, and continued speaking to me. "I can't believe you, kid. You made your Pokémon friends believe your malicious lies."

My heart seized up in anger. "WHAT? You know I'm a bad liar, but you think I'm lying when I'm actually telling the truth? If you'd let me finish, I would've told you that I hated, hated,** hated** that terrible ending in Metroid Fusion! Other people might hate you guys, the Galactic Federation might hate you guys, but I don't! Because I know your story, I know that you crashed that station to save the galaxy! If anything, I only want you and Adam to finally have a happy ending!"

"Fine then. If you are telling the truth, then tell me this. You say that you're not trying to tear my career apart. Prove it. Swear right here and now that you'll do whatever it takes to help me get my job back. Swear it!" She held up her Arm Cannon hand for emphasis.

I calmed myself and stared right in her blue eyes behind her visor. I raised my right hand and vowed, in all seriousness, "Ms. Aran? I'll do whatever it takes to help you get your job back. I promise." And I truly believed I would.

"No matter what I tell you to do?"

I took a deep breath and finished, "…No matter what."

"You didn't swear it yet."

I was starting to get impatient. "Okay, I swear it! Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye. There!"

Did she just smile? My heart raced. I swore she just smiled. I immediately regretted my words. Maybe she was going to make me do something physically impossible—

"Walk into the elevator and bring your three friends along with you. NOW," she ordered, in an unusually calm voice.

"C'mon, guys," I whispered. Big Amy and Chikorita didn't need to be told twice, but Grovyle was a bit slower, eyeing Samus and me back and forth in suspicion before stepping in the elevator with us.

"Now stay there until you can step outside." She then turned to the monitor and pressed a button. The cramped elevator closed and lowered. The same steam and stuff. Finally, we stepped outside to find ourselves in a purplish marsh, complete with bubbling mud that reeked of poison. Grovyle blanched. "This is the Forgotten Swamp," he explained.

Without warning, the elevator retracted. The engine started up again. We heard Samus' voice from the cockpit, emitting from a speaker somewhere below the hull of the cockpit. "I've come to a conclusion, kid. You know way too much about me. You always did. Quite frankly, I can't let you become the next Space Pirate leader."

"WHAT?" we shouted in dismay.

I screeched indignantly, "That's not fair, Ms. Aran! I told you everything I knew! You can't still dump us like this! You said so!"

Chikorita added, "And why us too? We didn't do anything!"

"Not fair? NOT FAIR? Commander Tierney clearly said that if I personally dump **all four** of you guys on this primitive outer rim planet, he would give me my job back. If you really swore you'd do whatever it takes to get my job back…stay right there and don't ever speak with me again! EVER!"

"Lady? Just a—what are you doing—?" Adam was flabbergasted, but we couldn't hear anything he said after that, because right then, Samus activated the thrusters and zoomed towards the stratosphere, never to return again, just like the Axiatomic Link.

Exactly like the Axiatomic Link.

Grovyle and I stood there in shock. Team Pecha was crying. While the actual experience of the six scientists and Amy Purima being kicked off the Axiatomic Link impacted me more than the original story written event ever could, this was ten times worse. History was repeating itself. It was happening to **us** now.

"Was that s—supposed to be…our space adventure? It's over already?" wailed Big Amy.

"It's not fair! I just wanted to be friends with Ms. Aran and Mr. Malkovich too. We didn't do anything to them. It's…not…WAAAAH!" sobbed Chikorita.

"You filthy human…What have you done?" growled Grovyle.

I looked at the poison swamp around us, its dangerous odor overwhelming my every breath. I looked at the sorry state we were in. A smolderingly angry Grovyle. A Jigglypuff who was forever cursed with remembering the horror of her past. A wailing Chikorita. Me, with just a backpack and clothes I thought were cute but suddenly didn't matter anymore. And to top things off…either that was a powerful suit deactivator beam…or my spacesuit was nowhere to be found.

We were so screwed.

Actually, that was an understatement. There was no way I could've possibly comprehended exactly how screwed we really were.

What have I done, indeed?

To be continued…

**Coming up next: To add injury to insult, the moment Grovyle finds out that Amy Vee Purima's past wasn't in the game at all, that I wrote every moment of it…I can't. It's too horrible. My chances of gaining his trust back, ever? **Absolute Zero**.**


	14. Absolute Zero

Chapter 14: Absolute Zero

As if things couldn't get any worse, they did. It was like every single Pokémon on the planet ran up to visit us, but Samus' ship kept them away, and now the floodgates had finally opened despite the fact that we were all in a poisonous swampy wasteland. First, some Pokémon (whom I have no idea who they were) shouted, "Hey! There's that human! Get it!" and shot all kinds of Vine Whips and String Shots at me so I couldn't move a muscle. Then, someone else gasped and said, "Oh my gosh. It's Team Pecha! THE Team Pecha!" so of course Big Amy and Chikorita got swarmed. Finally, Exploud and his group of trumpet-like Pokémon (whom I still have no idea what their names were) saw Grovyle and threw a welcoming party, saying things like, "Welcome back, Your Awesomeness!" As if that weren't enough, Celebi happened to fly in and practically choked him while hugging him really hard, sobbing something about how much she missed him. I couldn't tell if she was overdramatizing or not. All of these happened within ten seconds or less. Naturally, no one could save me from being picked up and hauled away. Oh yeah, and someone stabbed me in the back with a tranquilizer dart. Or was it Poison Jab? I couldn't tell.

I woke to the strange mix of tribal drum pounding and electric whirring. I was still alive, so I guess I got lucky that the Poison Jab or whatever it was ended up not poisoning me after all. As I blinked my eyes open, I saw a crowd of Pokémon all around me, and identified such ones as Zigzagoon, Probopass, Cacnea, Sneasel, and Vileplume. I also saw that I was suddenly in a jungle. But the vast majority of the Pokémon were species I had never seen before, and for a second I vaguely wondered if they were really Pokémon or if they were aliens. The chanting ones were walking around me in a circle while making weird motions with whatever stick-like objects they were carrying. They vaguely looked like the Boggobians from Meteos, only their purple and gray colorations suggested that they were Poison/Steel type.

The one thing they all had in common was that they were all upside down. No, wait. The ground was upside down too. Huh? I was confused. Finally, my gaze turned to find out what those things were that were restricting my arms and legs. They were vines.

They tied **me** upside-down.

"What the…?" I uttered before I could stop myself. Dozens of pairs of eyes turned to gaze in my direction. Then they started saying things like, "It talked! It talked!"

It? IT? Did these guys know so little about humans that they didn't even know what—Never mind. I realized that no matter where I would go, the whole "gender confusion" theme would not go away. Furthermore, I remembered how there were already lots of Pokémon in the Pokémon section in Gaijin City, so I had to ask, "Wha—what's going on here? Isn't interplanetary travel here already? Aren't you supposed to know about humans already? How about Gaijin City? Capital Planet? …Anything?"

Several of them started to shout out answers, but someone shouted, "QUIET! I'll speak to it." As the crowd parted to let the guy through, I saw that he was a Toxicroak. I could tell that he was male since he had an unusually large red poison sac under his throat. I groaned on the inside. It looked like this "gender confusion" theme only went one-way so far.

He cleared his throat and said, "Let me explain. We have heard legends of the existence of humans ever since the legendary Team Pecha and their misunderstood friend Grovyle saved the world not once, but twice. Uh, can you understand what I'm saying?"

I nodded. "Perfectly."

"Um, yes. Well. Anyway, legends have it that the Jigglypuff leader was rumored to have been a human from the future before she was turned into a Jigglypuff and lost her memory. Her name was Amy. Well? Does that name sound like a human name?"

"Amy? Yeah, it's a human name! In fact, it's more common than I thought it would be!"

Several gasps of shock and awe. Toxicroak shushed them again. "Thank you for your patience. You are correct that this so-called interplanetary travel has reached our world in general. Unfortunately, our quaint little tribe has never heard of what might be out there in the stars, and no one we have sent out there has ever come back to tell the tale."

"I see…So why did you guys tie me up like this?"

He continued to exude a bumbling and disorganized air about himself, but right then, I thought I caught a glimpse of a tiny smile flash across his face. "Um, yes…about that…See, none of us have ever seen a human before, since no human ever came here, and—"

"Can we DISSECT it yet?" shouted one of those little Poison/Steel guys, waving around that really sharp implement. I gasped. It **could **easily be used for dissection. Dissection?

"WHAT?" I shouted, not believing my ears.

Toxicroak's demeanor completely changed. He stopped screwing around and pulled himself up confidently and nastily. "That's right," he grinned. "I tried to be nice, but now you know what you're really here for. There's no way we'll let you leave." He lifted a sharp claw dripping with poison to my throat, and I cringed away, shutting my eyes. It's not enough for these uncivilized Pokémon to attack whoever invades their territory; they have to dissect humans too? Since when did Pokémon learn the concept of dissection, anyway? Suddenly, I remembered something Samus told me what felt like a lifetime ago.

"_You just violated Interplanetary Rule #51.245: If you're a human and you travel to another planet where they've heard of humans but none live there, and someone identifies you…you run for it! You have no idea what kinds of things sentient beings could __**do **__to creatures they've heard of but never actually seen before. It should be common sense. Why do you think I wear my Power Suit all the time?"_

She was right. I had no idea after all. "The most ridiculous official rule I've ever heard" suddenly didn't seem so ridiculous anymore. I had no idea that Pokémon—such creatures like Pokémon!—were capable of sick operations like these. It made absolutely no sense…but on the other hand, these were Pokémon from 500 years in the future. And I gasped as I realized that she must've abandoned me here for that very reason…so I could learn what a terrible mistake that was. That experience with Zoroark and the meanie-butts was bad enough. I was terrified to learn that I was going through it again.

"YOOM…TAH!"

Big Amy's by-now-familiar-but-still-oh-so-welcome Hyper Voice blasted my eardrums and every single Pokémon in sight. She and Chikorita burst out from above, landed perfectly in front of them, ready to fight. "LEAVE HER ALONE!" she shouted, still in that loud voice.

"We'll get you out of here, Little Amy! Hang on," said Chikorita. She tilted the leaf on her head back, and I realize what she was about to do.

"No no, wait wait wait—!" I argued too late. She unleashed a surprisingly accurate Razor Leaf that slashed the thick, squishy vines tying me up. There was no way I could tell her that I was about to land on my head on the ground hard, possibly knocking me out or paralyzing me or worse, in only half a second. The only thing I could utter was "AAAAAH—!"

I didn't land on my head. I heard Chikorita's voice straining with effort, and I found that she caught me with Vine Whip instead. Whew! She lowered me to the ground safely. "Th—thanks…" I gasped.

Everyone was shocked. They muttered something about how it was them, the famous Team Pecha.

"That's right, guys! We're Team Pecha, and she's with us! Now you can either let her go with us or you'll have to get through us!" shouted Big Amy to the crowd.

Toxicroak looked conflicted for a second, but then he smiled again. "You know what? Doesn't matter if the human is with you, the famous Team Pecha. We can't give…**her**…up. Besides, I think I can handle the two of you all by myself." He cracked his knuckles. They gulped. And I could see why, too. Toxicroak was Poison/Fighting type, super-effective against both Big Amy and Chikorita. This wasn't going to be easy.

As it turned out, I didn't need to worry. One more Hyper Voice was enough to knock the guy out, combined with a Hidden Power with Chikorita. "Whoooaaa…" My jaw dropped in awe. Then it hit me; these girls were most likely used to fighting guys like Dialga all the time. Maybe they were Level 100 by now.

Everyone stood stone still in amazement. Big Amy tiptoed backwards and urgently whispered to me, "Now, Little Amy! Let's run for it!"

I didn't need to be told twice. I scooped her up and bolted, with Chikorita hot on my heels using Razor Leaf on any Pokémon that tried to follow, which were practically all of them. We blundered through the swampy jungle, having no idea where we were going. Random plants and twigs scratched me everywhere. If only I had my spacesuit, I could've avoided all of that extra pain, but I still had my sailor school uniform on. Kind of ludicrous for this kind of thing, but hey, we had to face life as it came, no matter what shape we were in.

I looked behind myself to see if any more were following. None yet. Then I ran right-smack into something and tripped over it, falling onto the ground. "Oooow…" the four of us groaned.

Four?

It was Grovyle! Apparently, we didn't trip over a rock. We tripped over him.

"Grovyle! You're late!" grouched Big Amy.

"What took you so long?" complained Chikorita.

Several Pin Missiles and such projectiles rained down around us. The swarm of tribal Pokémon caught up to us. "Had to ditch Celebi and that ludicrous entourage. Now let's go!" ordered Grovyle.

We ran. Grovyle stayed behind to punch out a few of the closest enemies, but he still managed to pass me. "You are so slow," he huffed. Then, taking me completely by surprise, he picked me up and jumped to a really long branch. Big Amy was already on my head, and Chikorita jumped on my shoulder, but it didn't slow Grovyle down any. We slid on tree trunks, branches, and vines at the speed of a roller coaster, and Grovyle provided all the speed. I shut my eyes and shouted. I was terrified of roller coasters…at least, real ones. This was exactly like in Tarzan (the Disney movie) and I realized that despite the impracticality of my outfit at the time, Jane's cumbersome yellow dress was way worse. So I figured, if she could survive this ride, so could I.

We finally defeated all the enemies. Then we saw the end of the line. "Hang on!" ordered Grovyle. He jumped just as the branch ended, and we sailed out of the jungle and into the air, dozens of feet into the air. The jungle was on a high cliff, and we were about to land in the middle of a trashy-looking plains that looked more like a wasteland. "AAAAAAAAAH!" we all shouted, except for Grovyle of course. I grabbed Big Amy and held her in front of my face, where the ground was about to hit me.

WHAM! At least her fluffy body cushioned the blow. We bounced a few more times before finally coming to a stop. I rubbed my sore spots all over, groaning and trying to calm my hammering heart down. In fact, my heart had been hammering the whole time since the Pokéathlon Contest. On one hand, everything that had happened to me so far made life much more interesting; on the other hand, I was worried that any moment now, rips of pain would sear through my stomach from constant stress. I really didn't like how I inherited my mom's annoyingly weak stomach, so I had to take measures to calm myself.

I looked around and saw the jungle where we came from sitting up there on the cliff. Odd place for a jungle, but I didn't argue at the time. "Wh…where are we?" asked Big Amy.

Grovyle explained, "This is the Forgotten Plains, close by to the Forgotten Swamp. No one ever comes here anymore, ever since the native Pokémon suddenly started disappearing from here. It was rumored that an unknown monster killed them all."

"M—m—monster?" whimpered Chikorita. "KILLING Pokémon?"

"Nothing we can't handle, of course."

With that scary thought, we sat down for a bit and thought over a few things. "…So what do we do now?" I asked.

We sat there for about five minutes. No one had any idea what to say, though Big Amy and Chikorita were constantly on the lookout for said Pokémon-killing monster. Grovyle was acting oddly distant, though. He had his back turned to me the whole time. Finally, he said, "Okay, human. I think I gave you more than enough time to get to know you, and I've come to a conclusion."

The tone of his voice made my breath stop. Big Amy, Chikorita, and I stared at him in confusion. Didn't he just save our lives? What was going on in here? I also felt annoyed that he never ever called me by my real name, and afraid that this was the opening for something worse.

"YOU…are a THREAT…to me, Chikorita…and MY Amy!" He turned around. We gasped and staggered back. His eyes were blazing with anger. It **was **worse. "You always have been…and you always will. You know the proof. We all saw it."

He sharpened his Leaf Blades as he stepped closer to me. I quickly skittered back, my heart racing faster and faster by the second. "You mean her? N—no way! I said I could never be—"

"Don't give me that garbage. She came from a Dimensional Hole. I know enough about time travel. Samus was right to ditch **you** here, but not **us**. Not long from now, **something** is going to make you change that much…and if we stay affiliated with you, you're going to kill us all. So you see, I have no choice. I didn't want to do this, but…"

I tripped over a rock and fell backwards on the suddenly hard ground. "NO!" we all shouted. We? Big Amy and Chikorita leapt in front of me.

"Don't do this, Grovyle! Don't!" pleaded Big Amy.

"She can't be evil! She just can't! There has to be a good reason for this!" shouted Chikorita. My eyes teared up, and my heart leapt with hope. They still knew the truth—that I was a good person! Thanks, guys!

"Amy. Chikorita. You're being fooled just like Dusknoir fooled you. Think about it. That device of hers has the whole story. She knows everything about us,** everything**, and she's going to use that knowledge against us one day!"

Big Amy defended me. "But she CAN'T be like him! I can feel it! Back then, I could FEEL something was wrong with him, but I don't feel anything like that from her at all!"

Chikorita joined in, "She's our friend! It's not like her to betray us, it just isn't! So what if she has that device? So what if she actually wrote everything that happened to you guys from the Axiatomic Link to the time I met Amy? She had no way to know that everything she wrote would actually happen in real life!"

Uh-oh.

That did it.

"You…WROTE…everything that happened to Amy and me? You MADE her suffer like that? And you could've completely PREVENTED that from ever HAPPENING to us?" he roared. I was tongue-tied. I couldn't move. I couldn't say a thing. I wanted to argue, but I couldn't. Everything he said was completely true. How could I lie? That was the moment I really should've said something, anything, in my defense. But my accursed slow-acting introverted brain couldn't think of anything in the next 0.5 seconds, betraying me again, this time sealing my fate.

And then he pounced on me!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!" My blood-curdling shout that was more like a scream reverberated throughout the Forgotten Plains. It was the scream that I could only emit when my worst fear finally came true.

* * *

_In a fully fixed and pristine Temporal Tower, at the rooftop floor among the majestic columns, Dialga is minding his own business making sure the flow of time is in perfect balance and stuff. He gazes upon the five Time Gears in the altar, emitting green light through the formerly red lines threading through the place, reminiscing about how the Pokémon managed to figure out that once every 150 years, they were supposed to return them to their hiding places, and 150 years later, back to Temporal Tower. Suddenly, he notices a change in the air. The tower is starting to crack._

Dialga: …I CAN FEEL IT. TIME IS STARTING TO STOP…

_At the same time, in Spacial Rift, Palkia wakes up and notices the same sensation in the air._

Palkia: …SPACE IS STARTING TO COLLAPSE…

_Now for a new place! In the dimension on the opposite side of the galaxy, but mostly centered on Planet Portania, lives the Renegade Pokémon Giratina. He notices pools of dark clouds forming everywhere._

Giratina: …EVEN MY REVERSE WORLD…?

_In the clouds high, high above Planet Portania is a temple that looks vaguely Greek yet has a bright, powerful, otherworldly golden aura coating around it. It's the Sky Temple, housing the one and only Alpha Pokémon Arceus, the ruler of everything and everyone._

Arceus: …IT'S HAPPENING. JUDGEMENT DAY HAS FINALLY COME. TIME…SPACE…ANTIMATTER…ALL OF IT, THIS WHOLE DIMENSION, IS…

_And finally, far, far away from Planet Portania, in the deep depths of space, in a super-secret location that no one knows about, clouded in nebula dust, lays a hidden planet. Planet Chozodia, the last known refuge for the galaxy's most enlightened beings. The Chozo and the Ylla coexist together peacefully on the planet, learning from each other's wisdom. But as of this moment, every single one of them becomes aware of the disturbance in the air. Old Bird and Gray Voice, two elderly Chozo very familiar to Metroid fans, discuss this._

Old Bird: …the fabric of the time-space continuum, this very dimension…is in danger of collapsing!

Gray Voice: I can feel it too. We have no choice, do we, Old Bird?

Old Bird: We have no choice indeed. We must activate the Teleportation Warp Gate!

Gray Voice: (The one our ancestors built in case anything like this would ever happen…)

_They run to the tunnel in a mountain on the edge of their village. _

* * *

I found that I had absolutely no idea what true pain, agony, and suffering felt like.

He really did vent his anger out on me this time! He was absolutely merciless. He slashed me everywhere, leaving no time to think, or argue, or even breathe. Big Amy and Chikorita pleaded at him to stop, and they even tried defending me, but no matter what they did, Grovyle would always avoid them to get to me. But with every slash, the sight made them recoil in terror, until they couldn't even bear to look at me anymore.

That full-contact pummeling I received when I was a yellow belt in Tae Kwon Do? That was a feather. That time when the other me zapped me with the lowest setting of her newfound power? A cottonball. Everything I endured the moment I stowed away on Samus' ship? Oh, please. Nothing—I mean, nothing—in my life could even remotely compare to the agony he inflicted on me. It was official. True, I was scared to death of intimidating, angry people, but I've never had to deal with a situation like this before. I didn't think I could forget this even if I wanted to. This was why I didn't want to tell anyone here about how much I knew, especially not Grovyle. But all my efforts were in vain. My knowledge sealed my fate from the start. I had it coming to me no matter what I did.

Anything, I mean anything, would've been preferable to this. Maybe dissection, maybe the other me's torturous powers, maybe Mother Brain, maybe even Zoroark and those meanie-butts. Did I really escape them all only to die at the hands of the one guy I always wanted to be friends with? The guy I truly cared about as much as Team Pecha, all three of whom I could feel we could've had a deeper friendship than anyone I ever knew back on Earth? That's why I couldn't fight him, not honestly. The few times I managed to fight back had virtually no effect on his scaly-tough skin. It was **so wrong**. Against the very person I should've fought the hardest…I couldn't bring myself to do so. Is this what they meant by intimate enemies?

"Grovyle, STOP!" pleaded Chikorita.

No, he wouldn't stop. Not until he finished the job.

"Something's happening to me, Grovyle!" I heard Big Amy shout.

Still no letup. I desperately wanted to see what she was talking about, but by that point, the pain was so severe, I had no choice but to keep my eyes shut.

"Grovyle! STOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!"

It was exactly the same shout that she shouted at Grovyle when she wanted to stop him from killing Azelf—no wait, to stop him from taking the last Time Gear when she and Chikorita were nowhere near stopping him. It was the kind of shout with a type of anguish suffusing it that I never knew existed. And it was the only kind of shout that could get him to stop when he otherwise could never be stopped; the shout of his best friend for all of time.

He saw her and gasped, letting me fall to the ground facedown. "Oh, no. No no no no no…" he whimpered. I was absolutely desperate to see what was happening to her, what was causing Grovyle to worry so deeply. I would go crazy if I didn't know, but the pain was so bad that I couldn't even move anymore.

"Not again! H—how do I stop it?" he asked in despair. Stop what?

"I don't know! I don't want to die!" she panicked.

"Don't die, Amy! I can't lose you again!" wailed Chikorita.

All I had to do was open one eye. Just one eye. Then I would see everything that was going on. Why did it take so much pain and agony just to open…one…eye? As if my suffering wasn't bad enough, I had to hear and feel all of their hopeless sorrow too. This really the worst way to die, ever. Couldn't I at least get one look before I had to go, too? Finally, after much effort, I…opened my eye!

"Hey! It's going away!" exclaimed Chikorita.

Was it just my imagination, or did I just see some glowing yellow orbs suddenly evaporate from around Big Amy? Couldn't have been my imagination. Why else would they be panicking?

"I'm alive…I'm alive!" she whispered in awe.

"I don't know what I'd do if I ever lost you again…" He hugged her tightly, as if not wanting to ever let go, and my heart groaned in despair. This was a guy who truly loved his best friends. The same guy who just a second ago was absolutely merciless to me. How could one guy be so loving and so cold-blooded at the same time? Betrayed. The word couldn't even begin to describe the agony I felt.

Finally, he turned to me, and I shut my eyes tight again. What now? "Interesting…" he muttered. "Let me test something out here, okay guys?"

He gripped my hair, all of it, and yanked my head up. I paled. I've read about this in another one of Stephanie Meyer's books called The Host before, but I never thought I'd actually experience what it felt like for myself. A sharp edge touching against my throat against my throat confirmed my fears. Decapitation, as in the French Revolution! But that made no sense. No Grovyle could possibly know the move Guillotine. Unless…unless…there was a slight, slight chance he actually did. "Oh no no no no no, no no, oh please, please! Not that!" I could only babble incoherently.

"Yes," he replied coldly. "That!"

I braced myself.

"Grovyle!" shouted Big Amy and Chikorita in that same anguished tone of voice again.

SHING!

I fell facedown into the ground. Big Amy gasped. Chikorita screamed. But why? My neck felt perfectly fine. He missed, didn't he?

Then I noticed that my hair didn't feel nearly as long as it used to be. I cracked an eye open, and saw that he was holding a bundle of hair slightly lighter shade of brown from my normal hair color. "My hair!" I gasped in disbelief and confusion. "You sliced my hair!"

"It's not YOUR hair, you fake. You don't deserve this," he answered coldly, stuffing it in his Treasure Bag. He then turned to his two friends and barked, "Amy! Chikorita! Let's get out of here."

"WHAT? But…but—!"

"No buts! Just go!"

Reluctantly, with tears in their eyes, they turned to leave, wailing from heartbreak. But he didn't. Not yet, at least. He stayed behind, walked up to me, and whispered nastily in my ear.

"What do you know. You know everything about us—you even controlled what happened to us!—but in the end, you bleed just like any normal, filthy human being. In fact, you are so pathetically weak; it escapes me as to how you could possibly become so obscenely powerful in the future."

The pain returned, and I could only groan. He sniffed and snorted in disgust before continuing. "Your scent is overpowering. It wouldn't be long before you attract some hungry Pokémon to this place. Or maybe the monster will find you first, who knows? Judging by the rate in which this ghastly liquid is running out of you, I imagine you'd succumb long before anything like that happens. Apparently, **I'm** not able finish you off myself. Perhaps something else can without hurting **my **Amy."

He got up and started to leave me there, lying on the ground facedown. Before he walked out of earshot, he had one final word to deliver. "And if you're trying to ask me why I did this to you, I'll tell you why. Everything was perfect. She and I could've finally been together." He paused for a long time before coming to his conclusion. "**Then you came along**." With that ominous note, he dashed away, never to come back.

With a pang of guilt and horror, it hit me. He never got over his heartbreak for Amy Vee Purima at all. Not one day in two years. This was his one chance to be with her and make up for lost time.

And the moment he saw me emerge from the ship, I ruined it. Just by being here, I ruined it all for them. I was never supposed to be in this story at all. If it weren't for me, my four friends—Samus, Grovyle, Chikorita, and Amy—would've all still been on their epically awesome space adventure now. Maybe they would've reached the Tetra Galaxy to collect Octoliths again like in Metroid Prime Hunters or something like that. Anything but this.

Now don't get me wrong; I value my life. I always did. Back at home in my normal life, I just graduated from high school. I've already been practicing my story writing and artistic abilities since the age of 14, in fact, my whole life. I had everything to live for. But in that exact place, in that exact time, in the exact condition that I was in, after those exact heartbreaking events…for the first time ever, in my happiness-filled life full of hope and promise as a rising manga artist…I wanted to die.

* * *

"So. Now you know why it's futile to have friends."

Samus' voice wafted to my ears. I could feel her footsteps through the ground. I had no idea how much time had passed; maybe 20 minutes, maybe less. I still couldn't move, and felt like I was about to faint. "Mmph…" I mumbled into the dirt, meaning, "Really…?"

"Friends can't last forever. Sooner or later, they have to leave you. Either they die, they move away, or they betray you. And the more you get involved, the more it breaks you on the inside. Had to learn that the hard way, you know. Way too many times for me to count."

I mumbled something again, totally agreeing at the moment.

"In this brutal galaxy, the only one you can afford to permanently trust is you yourself. Your enemies can use anyone and everyone you affiliate yourself with to get to you. That's why I always fight alone."

"Mm-hmm…" I mumbled.

She knelt down and whispered in my ear, "You believe me now, don't you? You know how I feel now, don't you?"

"Yeah…?" I cracked an eye open again and saw that she was not in her Power Suit, but in her Zero Suit. That really confused me. Didn't she say that she always kept her Power Suit on, especially on Planet Portania? By that point, I was getting suspicious. I thought back and asked, "Ms. Aran? Didn't you just abandon us here and—?"

Suddenly, she seized the back of my throat and whispered nastily, right in my face, "Took you long enough. I told you I would break you. I told you it wasn't over between us. Now you have no choice but to become like me." I choked. Why did she sound exactly like my doppelganger but looked like Samus Aran? Who the heck **was** she? What the heck was going on in here? And did I just see a tint of orange behind her normally bright blue eyes?

I wanted to run. I wanted to fight. I wanted to do something, anything, other than just hang there paralyzed from my injuries, unable to move. As she slowly stood up, she lifted me by the throat to meet her eye level, dragging even more excruciating pain through me. She whistled and remarked, "Whoa. That Grovyle really did a number on you. He really hates you, you know. And to think that Chikorita and that Jigglypuff couldn't even save you…it's sad. It really is. For you."

"How…did…you…know?" I gasped with all my might.

"Okay. I guess I can explain. I am the mastermind that manipulated your every move; from the moment Zoroark pulled you into this dimension. Every move. I told him what to do, I told Zark and Zork what to do, I told the Space Pirates, Kraid, Sylux, Ridley, and even Mother Brain what to do. Even I expected you would have as much fun as you did in Gaijin City. All to bring you here, to this very spot, at my mercy…all to preserve my very existence…and all for me to gain the ultimate knowledge I need. You already know my subjects way too well, don't you?"

She suddenly pinched me at the base of my neck. Hard. My eyes dimmed. My senses dulled. My breath ran out. My consciousness started to evaporate. Since when did whoever-she-was know how to do the Vulcan Neck Pinch? I blacked out.

The last thing I remembered seeing in the darkness of my mind seized my heart more than anything else I ever saw in my life. It was a clear view of an orange, translucent, gelatinous blob. No wait, it was a mass of them encased in a spherical shell with spikes on the outside. No wait; it was a several of them, fused to create a large, mucky entity that had a life of its own. My breath came up short. I haven't seen them since the last time I played Metroid Fusion. She was right. I already knew them way too well.

They were the X Parasites.

"My name is Queen X. Now this galaxy shall be mine! And it shall all be because of you. Goodbye…Amy [you know who]!"

Why the heck were the X Parasites on Planet Portania? I thought Samus made sure they were restricted to Planet SR-388. And their queen, too, whom neither Samus nor I had ever seen or even heard of, for that matter? I now knew why Pokémon around here were never seen again; she killed and copied them whenever she got hungry. **She** was the monster. And I realized that the other me really wasn't me after all; she was Queen X, who had copied my looks, memories, hopes, dreams, and fears. She even managed to augment my lame combat abilities with frighteningly powerful dark energy from someone else she copied.

I knew that X Parasites infect the nervous systems of their hosts, kill, and replicate them perfectly. In Metroid Fusion, they infected Samus, but the Galactic Federation medics managed to completely cure her with a serum Metroid DNA since it turned out that the Metroids were the X Parasites' natural predators. Before the serum, in the care of the Galactic Federation medics, Samus had a 0.873% chance of survival.

What about my chances? Considering how I was here, already critically injured, in the middle of nowhere in outer space, with no medics to try and save me, and the queen herself attacking? Considering how they should really be called X Parasoids since they **always **killed their hosts? Considering how Metroids, the natural enemies of those parasites and only source of the only known cure, were now extinct?

Absolute zero.

Whatever I said about wanting to die, I took it back. I wanted to tell Amy, Chikorita, Grovyle, and Samus the truth. I wanted to be friends with them again. If only I'd refined my storytelling instincts, I probably could've seen this coming.

But I was too late.

To be continued…

**Coming up next: I vowed to never kill off another character in any story of mine, and guess who gets killed off first in this series? Me! So learn from my stupid mistake and be careful what you wish for. Anyway, Amy and Chikorita will never look at Grovyle the same way again. Samus and Grovyle become wracked with **G.U.I.L.T.**, and I don't mean the diseases from Trauma Center. Whatever happens from here will be a complete mystery, but no matter what, don't expect me to narrate for a while…*shudder*…if ever!**


	15. GUILT

Chapter 15: G.U.I.L.T

_Amy, Chikorita, and Grovyle approach the end of the Forgotten Wasteland and can see the new, revamped, multi-tiered Treasure Town in the distance. But no one is rejoicing. Grovyle is turning the past few horrific events over and over in his head, while Amy and Chikorita aren't speaking to him at all._

Grovyle: (Now that I think about it…were my actions really necessary? She was too easy to beat, after all. And she didn't even fight back. But before my finishing blow, my Amy was about to disappear. Why was that? Was I not supposed to kill her? Maybe something else should. After all, she knows way too much about us. And she was disturbingly similar to my Amy. I couldn't have her using her unnatural knowledge against us. But still…)

Chikorita: (I feel so bad! I shouldn't have blabbed about how she wrote everything that happened before I met Amy! If only I didn't, then…but still. We forgave her. Why couldn't Grovyle do the same thing? What is wrong with this guy?)

Amy: (Grovyle! Why did you have to hurt her like that? Why? She never did anything to you! Wasn't she your friend too? There's no way she could turn evil in the future, anyway. I could feel it. That evil lady couldn't have been her at all. Little Amy was the best friend I've ever had…I thought we could be friends forever…)

_Finally, Grovyle can't keep silent any longer._

Grovyle: Amy? Chikorita? You do know that as soon as we get to Treasure Town, we can find out how to get back into outer space, right?

Chikorita (finally snapping): GROVYLE! How could you? You want us to just forget about her?

Grovyle: Gah! Even you don't understand, Chikorita! She's our enemy! You know perfectly well how she's going to turn against us. Take it from me. The worst kind of enemy you can face is one who gains your trust and betrays you when you least expect it. You should be thanking me for saving your lives for you.

Amy (also snapping): THANK YOU? What if she was innocent? What did she ever do to you?

Grovyle (growling): You…have…**no idea**. She has the same first name as you. She has the same interests and skills as you. She's even left-handed, just like you! So I got suspicious. And then we find that she knows everything about us! Not only that, but she wrote everything that happened to us. **She **was the one who was torturing us our whole lives, not Darkrai! That right there should be enough proof for you.

Chikorita: But we forgave her! Why did you have to try and kill her?

Grovyle: *sigh* I just told you!

Amy: I don't know…it felt like you were killing me too…

_He hugs her in shock._

Grovyle: No! Don't say that! I'd never let anything happen to you. Ever! Guys, can't you see? She was going to do the same thing to you guys just like Dusknoir did to you!

Chikorita: She was NOT! LIKE! DUSKNOIR! AT ALL!

Dusknoir: What about me?

_From the direction of Treasure Town comes the one and only Dusknoir. Oddly enough, none of his Sableye lackeys are with him._

Amy and Chikorita (freaking out): AAAAH! DUSKNOIR!

Dusknoir: Calm your nerves, children. You cannot comprehend the degree I've yearned for another opportunity to meet you.

Chikorita (getting furious): You really are evil, Dusknoir…you killed all those people…

Amy: You're a MURDERER!

Dusknoir (shocked): Pardon…?

Grovyle: Amy! Chikorita! Calm down—Dusknoir's a good guy now!

Chikorita (ignoring Grovyle): Stay away from us, you—you—!

Amy: Don't pretend you don't know! You killed all of those Planetary Investigation Team people!

Dusknoir: How did you uncover that information…?

Amy: Shut **up**, you scumbag! YOOM…TAH!

_The Hyper Voice knocks Dusknoir down, and Grovyle has to restrain the two of them before they can attack any further._

Grovyle: Amy! Chikorita! LISTEN TO ME! Don't let the past fool you! Didn't I tell you that he reformed himself? There's no more Primal Dialga for him to follow anymore! He is the respected manager of the bank in Treasure Town now! Now can you calm down for a few minutes and let him EXPLAIN?

Amy and Chikorita (glaring): …Fine.

_The two girls finally stop struggling and calm down, but they still eye Dusknoir coldly and suspiciously._

Grovyle: Forgive them, Dusknoir. On our space adventure, a Pokémon named Zoroark dug up all of Amy's forgotten memories and forced them to live through them all.

Dusknoir: It's quite all right. Rest assured, girls, that my personality has undergone a 180-degree turnaround since our last encounter. Funny you'd mention Zoroark, though. Why don't we traverse to Treasure Town? I shall elaborate in further detail.

Grovyle: Good idea. Let's go, guys.

Amy and Chikorita (still glaring): …Fine.

_Dusknoir leads the way to the bank and exchanges friendly greetings with everyone in town, relaxing Amy and Chikorita a little bit. They climb the stairs and navigate the maze that's more like a city. Finally, they reach the bank and travel to the room at the top. Though it's an ectoplasmic dark room suitable for Ghost types, Dusknoir lets in some light to calm their nerves and so they can see. They sit down._

Dusknoir: …and this is my living quarters. Please, make yourselves comfortable.

Grovyle: So what do you know about this Zoroark, anyway?

Dusknoir: Ahem. Zoroark read about Team Pecha's illustrious exploits, and for some unfathomable reason, he began to regard Darkrai, the engineer of the conspiracy behind the attempted collapses of the temporal and spatial fabrics, as his hero. As a consequence, he subsequently developed a hatred of Team Pecha. He defiled relics, rended written records to shreds, and assaulted any and all helpless Pokémon that Team Pecha championed, especially other Jigglypuff's and Chikorita's. He even had the nerve to denounce all-female exploration teams everywhere. Then one day, he went too far. When his assaults on Temporal Tower and Spacial Rift were barely averted, we decided to have him permanently exiled into outer space.

Amy: Why outer space? Why not the prison?

Dusknoir: Not even our technologically advanced incarceration facilities could contain his unnaturally advanced strength and intellectual faculties. We deemed him too dangerous to exist. Today his whereabouts and actions continue to be a mystery.

Chikorita: Not anymore. He's working with the Space Pirates.

Dusknoir: Space Pirates? Ah, that reminds me. Please regale me with updates to your journey so far.

_So Amy, Chikorita, and Grovyle tell Dusknoir everything, from when Team Pecha met Samus Aran to the time Grovyle almost killed Little Amy._

Dusknoir: …I see…Zoroark continues to commit deplorable crimes. Anyway, you have reason to believe that this "Amy [you know who]", the human we previously saw, will become malicious in the future?

Grovyle: That's right.

Amy: B—but that can't be true!

Grovyle: Amy. Chikorita. We saw the proof with our own eyes.

Dusknoir: Actually, Amy may have a point.

Grovyle: She does?

Amy: I do?

Dusknoir: Most veritably. Why would a being from the future visit her past self? Only one rationale: to change history.

Chikorita: Change history? How?

Dusknoir: Either the doppelganger despised what she became and wished to steer her past self on a new path she preferred…or it was merely a crucial step in an elaborate machination.

Amy: What do you mean?

Dusknoir: Considering the mental workings of Zoroark? Assuming he's conspiring with this future human, he probably advised her to stage an act so that you all would come to believe that she would become malicious.

Amy: …if Little Amy is actually innocent…!

Grovyle: No, I'm pretty sure she's not.

Dusknoir: You **did** have the gall to murder anyone you fixate as your enemy, Grovyle. Perhaps Zoroark wished to take advantage of your tendency to do so.

Chikorita: But why have Grovyle kill Little Amy? The evil lady would disappear because of that paradox rule, right?

Dusknoir (thinking hard): …It can only mean one thing. That malicious female was **not** really your human friend at all. Perhaps a surreptitious adversary? Or maybe even a doppelganger? Just a thought. You abandoned your friend in the Forgotten Wasteland, correct?

Grovyle: Yeah. Why?

Chikorita: Th—the monster…?

Dusknoir: An unknown being has been observed prowling around the territory. Or at least, it was first observed to be an unknown being. Even though its sightings have all but vanished, Pokémon continue to be killed. This is very disturbing.

_Amy, Chikorita, and Grovyle continue to think._

Dusknoir: But that's beside the point. Well, Amy and Chikorita? Have I provided you with sufficient evidence to convince you of my true motives?

Amy and Chikorita: Not really…

Grovyle: Dusknoir, I think we should explain to them what happened after I shoved us back into the future.

_Grovyle and Dusknoir tell the story otherwise known as Special Episode #5: In the Future of Darkness, which players of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky would recognize. By the time they finish, Amy and Chikorita's brains are in a complete moral scramble. They can't stop their tears._

Amy: W—well, jeez, I dunno…I—I mean, I want to forgive you, b—but…somehow…I just can't…

Chikorita: She's right…You still killed all of those Pokémon on the Planetary Exploration Team, and all six of those people, and…hurt Big Amy so badly just…

Dusknoir: Like whom?

Chikorita: Just like…Grovyle…with Little Amy.

Amy: I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU GUYS! How could you DO this to her? HOW COULD YOU?

_Amy and Chikorita jump out the window and land on the ground. Dusknoir and Grovyle rush up to the window and shout down at them._

Grovyle: Hang on a second! Where are you guys going? What are you doing?

Chikorita: She's innocent; I know she is! We're gonna save her, and you can't stop us!

Amy: **True friends never hurt each other! Never!**

_With that word, they run off, leaving Grovyle speechless._

Dusknoir: Fascinating, isn't it?

Grovyle: What?

Dusknoir: You chose not to believe their assertion that this human is innocent, and simultaneously, they chose not to believe YOUR assertion that I too am innocent.

_Grovyle suddenly sees the point Dusknoir is making and staggers against the wall as a wave of guilt sweeps through him. His face blanches, and he has trouble talking, as if a 2,000-ton weight suddenly dropped on him._

Grovyle: Wait a second…you don't mean…if she WAS innocent…then…

_Finally, he can't take it anymore, and falls out the window, leaving a very confused Dusknoir staring out the window in the general direction the three of them went._

Grovyle: Amy! Chikorita! WAIT!

Dusknoir: … … …? (Sometimes I wonder if I ever fully comprehend these beings.)

_Amy and Chikorita, with Grovyle behind in hot pursuit, run all the way from Treasure Town back to the Forgotten Wasteland._

Amy (shouting as loud as she can): LITTLE AMY!

_They encounter a shocking sight. There are two Little Amy's, one facedown and all slashed-up, the other on her hands and knees, gasping for breath. They're both wearing the same sailor suit outfits._

Me: Big Amy?

Chikorita: Wha—wha—why are there two of you?

Me: Oh, you guys! Thank goodness you're here! You…you were right, Grovyle. That one you helped kill…she's not me! She was **pretending** to be me and had this horrible, horrible trap for you guys!

Amy: A TRAP?

Me: Yeah. Thanks, Grovyle. Thanks to you, I was able to finish her off once and for all.

Grovyle: Interesting. Tell me about it.

Me: Well, you see…Those Pokémon captured me when she found me. She told me her nasty trap for you guys, and she fooled them into tying her up in my place. You have NO IDEA how loudly I screamed when Big Amy and Chikorita saved that fake. By the time I could escape, every single Pokémon ran off to chase you and that fake. Took me a while to get through that jungle, and even longer to get off that cliff. By that time, I saw the fake like this and found she was still trying to stay alive. So I kicked her a few times like so and I finished the job for you.

Amy (glancing at herself): (Hey, I'm not disappearing…I'm still alive!)

Chikorita (paleing): Oh my gosh, I…I had no idea…

Me: Anyway, that was really close. What I'm saying is, don't worry about killing the real me. I'm right here, and…let's be friends forever!

_The three of them hug in relief. But Grovyle still has his suspicions._

Grovyle: I see. So you could kill her without having our Amy disappear.

Me: Wait, what? What are you talking about? She was going to disappear?

Grovyle: Yes. I was about to unleash the final blow, when she started to disappear. So I couldn't finish the job. I'm not sure why.

Me: …Huh. Weird. I don't know, either.

Grovyle (glaring): …You said you finished the job, right?

Me: Yeah! She was biting the dust as it was, so it was way too easy.

Grovyle (sniffing the air): (Something smells funny here. Literally. Let me try something.)

_Without warning, Grovyle aims a Leaf Blade at her neck. To everyone's surprise, she sees him coming in time and dodges, crushing Amy and Chikorita in her suddenly iron grasp._

Queen X (smirking evilly): How did you know I wasn't the real Amy [you know who]?

Amy: *Ack*—*gasp*—What?

Chikorita: (No way! No way!)

Grovyle: I only smelled one of you back in the jungle. Now there are two smells. Besides, the real Amy [you know who] would never be able to dodge an attack that fast…or dare crush my friends like that! Now PUT THEM DOWN!

Queen X: Make me.

_She sends dark energy surging through them, making them faint, and throws them right at him. He dodges, and ferociously claws at her with the fastest Leaf Blades he can muster, but she dodges them all easily. Then quick as a flash, she pins him down by the throat. She's crushing his neck so hard, he can't even get up._

Grovyle: *gack*…Who…are…you?

Queen X: I'll show you, exactly the same way I showed her!

_With a surge of dark energy, he faints too. In their subconscious's, all three of them see the massive gelatinous blob known as…_

Queen X: My name is Queen X. Now I shall rid the galaxy of your meddling presences…you, the Heroes of Time! Muahahahahaha!

_Meanwhile, Samus Aran and Adam Malkovich have arrived at Capital Planet and finally succeeded in attempting to barge into Galactic Federation Headquarters. Samus is standing outside of Commander Tierney's office._

Samus: Commander Tierney? I know you fired me…but I've followed your orders to dump those stowaways back where they came from…

_Silence._

Samus: …Commander Tierney? They said you're in here…can you hear me?

_More silence._

Samus: Okay, I'm coming in now!

_She scans the keypad next to the security door, activating it, and inputs her number (which, by the way, is 13576). The door opens, and she steps inside the office. But Commander Tierney is nowhere to be found. Samus just stares, confused. Then she suddenly hears a thumping sound from behind the wall behind his desk._

Samus: (What's in there?)

_Though there are two doors for her to choose from, she blasts the door on the right, activating it. She enters it and hears the thumping noise to her immediate left. It's an iron door. She kicks it down and finds herself in a dark room lit only by a glowing band of light lining the ceiling. She finally sees who was making the thumping noise, a tied-up elderly man banging the wall with his head. Ouch. That must hurt, considering how he's using the part on his head that has no hair._

Samus: Commander Tierney! What are you—?

_He looks to HIS left, sees her, and explodes in rage._

Commander Tierney: WHAT THE [f*%?$] ARE YOU DOING HERE, SAMUS?

Samus (completely stunned): Wha—wha—who did this to you?

Commander Tierney: Cut the [c#!%*] and get me out of here! NOW!

_She blasts the ropes off of him, and he runs out of there and back to his desk. Several glasses of water later…_

Commander Tierney: …It was those Space Pirate sons of a [b$*?#&]s! They tied me up and—

Samus: I get it. That wasn't the real you. So what about my employment?

Commander Tierney: What about it?

Samus: Your impostor ordered me to dump those stowaways back to Planet Portania where they came from…so do I still get my job back?

_He stifles laughter and slumps down onto his desk, smacking his forehead._

Commander Tierney: Samus Aran…hahaha…you never cease to amaze me.

_Then he can't take it anymore and explodes in a rant again._

Commander Tierney: HAVE YOU BEEN SMOKING CRACK? I mean, what the [f?%!$]-in' [h#*&!$] were you THINKING? Did you really follow that jack[%&?*#]'s orders, which clearly violated Regulation 34.623: Under no circumstances can terminated employees continue to TAKE orders? [D&!$%] straight! We **terminated **your [d%!#%]ed employment one [f#*$%]-in' MONTH ago! After you crashed the BSL Research Station as if it were a piece of [s%?#&], remember?

Samus (paleing): What? I thought they gave me one more chance—

Commander Tierney: Jack[!%?#$] imposter! You couldn't even turn on your [f%?#]-in' SCAN VISOR to check?

Samus: I—

Commander Tierney: And isn't that our Suit Deactivator Beam prototype? You [f!%?#]-in' STOLE it, didn't you?

Samus: No sir, I—

Commander Tierney: GIVE ME THAT!

_She hurriedly hands the Suit Deactivator Beam gun back to him as he leans over his desk and swipes it from her at the same time._

Commander Tierney: Now unless you want me to charge you with breaking and entering, theft, drug abuse, and **insanity **on your permanent record, get the [h%?#$] out of here before I call security! NOW!

_Samus dashes out at a breakneck pace, now feeling guilty for doubting her newfound friends and trying to suppress her tears again._

Samus: (He didn't have to cuss so much. I got the point. They were right. They were never trying to get me fired at all! I don't know how, but that Zoroark gave me false hope all along. What was I thinking? High Command would never give me a second chance for something like that. I should've faced the facts. I was **already** fired. Simple as that.)

_As she runs through the hallways and rides down elevators, she formulates a plan in her head, and by the time she reaches Adam, she already knows what to do._

Samus: Adam! Planet Portania, now!

Adam: Whoa, whoa, Lady! We just came from Planet Portania. Why—?

Samus: JUST DO IT!

_They drive back to Planet Portania in a hurry. Samus explains everything to Adam along the way._

Samus: …They were right! They were all right! That wasn't the real Commander Tierney, so they were telling the truth! (I feel so bad now…)

Adam: So now that you know for a fact that they weren't trying to mess up your career, we're finally going to actually rescue them?

Samus: EXACTLY!

_They emerge out of hyperspace, enter Planet Portania's atmosphere, and run a DNA scanner over the landmasses, searching for their four friends. Oddly enough, the scanner picks up one of them…flying up towards them at full speed._

Adam: …It's Amy [you know who]! How—?

Samus: No! It's that homicidal future version of her we told you about!

Queen X: Well, well, well. Samus Aran. Nice to see you again.

_Queen X shoots a dark laser pulse at the ship from her hands, which Adam dodges in time._

Samus: Adam! Give me manual control NOW!

Adam: Right away, Lady! (At least no one's in the ship anymore.)

_Samus steers the ship, expertly dodging all of Queen X's lasers, and returns fire. But no matter how many lasers hit, Queen X simply conjures up a shield that repels every blast._

Adam: Yeah. That is definitely not Amy [you know who]. I don't even think it's her from the future.

Queen X: I figured out why you two crashed the BSL Research Station, you know that?

Adam (sarcastically): Well of course you'd know that! You're Miss Omniscient, remember?

Samus (whispering): Wait. Adam. I think I might know who she really is. Prepare yourself for a fake crash-landing now.

Adam: WHAT? Why are you—?

Queen X: Take THIS!

_While Adam was distracted, Queen X shoots a dark laser at a critical section of the ship, shutting the propulsion systems down. The ship starts to free-fall, and they start shouting in order to hear each other over the roar of the atmosphere._

Adam: LADY! WHAT ARE YOU DOOOOOING?

Samus: DISCONNECT YOURSELF AND TRUST ME ON THIS ONE!

Queen X: Muahahaha…

_The ship flies closer and closer to the Forgotten Wasteland, where the genetic signatures were the strongest. Adam disconnects himself out of the ship's computer and into the mysterious black box. Samus wrenches the black box out_ _and turns into Morph Ball right before impact._

SFX: KA-BLOOIE!

Queen X: Goodbye, Samus Aran…and hello, Amy [you know who]. (I'm you…from the future.)

_She opens a portal to just a few hours into the past of the Space Pirate Homeworld and enters to tell her host the awful lie. The Morph Ball rolls out of the smoldering wreckage unharmed. She rolls all the way to the unconscious forms of both Amy's, Chikorita, and Grovyle. She unrolls out of Morph Ball and turns on the Scan Visor. The information that pops up confirms her worst fears._

Samus: Oh no…oh no no no…I knew it. They're all infected…

Adam (voicing from the black box): Don't tell me…They're all infected…with G.U.I.L.T. (Gangliated Utrophin Immuno Latency Toxin)?

Samus: Adam! Be serious! It's way worse!

Adam: **What?** What could possibly be worse than the seven strains of G.U.I.L.T. (Gangliated Utrophin Immuno Latency Toxin)?

Samus: The X Parasites!

Adam: No way! No…freakin'…way! We crashed the station; we restricted them to SR-388! How the heck did they **get** on this planet?

Celebi: GROVYLE! NOOOOOO!

_Out of nowhere, the pink shiny Celebi zooms towards them. She screeches to a halt in midair when she and Samus see each other._

Celebi: EEK! It's—it's you!

Samus: You're that crazy alien pixie girl! What are you doing here?

Celebi: I'm that **what?** Now just wait a second here—!

_Celebi glares and starts to charge in anger, but Samus points her Arm Cannon, forcing Celebi to stop in midair._

Samus: Stay back! If you get any closer, they'll infect you too!

Celebi: What about you, huh?

Samus: I have resistance. I can take it. Now, unless you tell me which of your leaders can help us—

_A major earthquake rocks the whole place. Actually, not just an earthquake. The whole place is starting to distort. The sky is being ripped apart by purple lightning, too._

Celebi: EEEK! The entire time-space continuum is collapsing!

Samus: What in the world are you talking about?

_In space, Queen X successfully comes back from the past after ensuring her existence. She doesn't fly very far when she sees everything being distorted and ripped apart too._

Queen X: (Huh? What? Why is this universe being ripped apart? Did I mess something up? No way!) *sigh*… (I have no choice. I guess I'll just have to get out of here and conquer another universe.)

_She opens a dimensional portal to a nearby universe and escapes through it. Meanwhile, on the hidden Planet Chozodia, Old Bird and Gray Voice reach the very center of the mountain outside their village. It's a chamber with a huge, ancient, convoluted contraption shaped like a jump gate. The gate is a giant vertical ring stretching from the floor to the cave ceiling, and there are consoles and computers underneath it all. They both man a console on either side._

Old Bird: Gray Voice. You are aware that this procedure could go wrong, correct?

Gray Voice: Yes. But if we do not attempt this…the universe has no hope.

Old Bird: Very well. Target area: Planet Portania, Quadrant 3, Section 005, Area 51.

Gray Voice: Activate Teleportation Warp Gate!

_The gate lights up. It charges up enough energy in only 10 seconds, and then it activates in a flash of energy, lighting up the whole room and sending a beam straight through the mountain into the sky. The two Chozo duck for cover._

Old Bird and Gray Voice: (If this fails…and if we fail to save her in time…this whole universe is doomed.)

_On Planet Portania, Quadrant 3, Section 005, Area 51, Samus and Celebi notice a field of energy materializing around them, the crash-landed purple ship, and their four X Parasite-infected friends._

Samus: Wha—what the heck is going on?

Celebi: I don't know! You're the super-smart alien genius here!

_The field traps them where they are. It fills with more and more light energy until it saturates the area so much, Samus and Celebi have to shut their eyes. A click, the sound of an explosion…and everything within the energy's range is teleported out of sight._

Samus and Celebi: WAAAAAAAAAAH!

—The End of Act 1—


	16. Naughty, Naughty, and More Naughty

—Interlude—

Chapter 16: Naughty, Naughty, and More Naughty

Narrator: Flash back to about a year before any of this insanity ever happened…

_We see Planet Portania, where the downward spiral of future villain Zoroark began. _

Narrator: It all started when a single Monster Fox Pokémon named Zoroark started reading about the famous exploits of Team Pecha…and got to the part about Darkrai…

Zoroark: Man, this Darkrai dude is soooo friggin' wicked! HE was the one who wanted to destroy time? AND space? And that's what his world of darkness would've looked like? DANG! He really should've won. Looks like a place where I could actually live.

Narrator: Many Pokémon began to suspect something around this time, but no one ever thought he would've even dared to do such things as attack other Jigglypuff's and Chikorita's, denounce all-female teams everywhere…and even destroy Quartzite Cave!

_A bunch of Graveler and Golem hurriedly try to piece the cave back together while Officer Magnezone is busy investigating the scene of vandalism._

Narrator: Then one day he went too far. Posing as Dialga and then Palkia, he launched all out attacks on both Temporal Tower and Spacial Rift, respectively. The real Dialga and Palkia managed to barely avert disaster in time.

_In Treasure Town, there's a room that looks very much like a modern courtroom. Zoroark, restrained by two Machamp, is standing trial, while lots of other Pokémon witnesses crowd the stands. Officer Magnezone floats right next to Dusknoir, the presiding judge. He doesn't need a gavel to bang onto his high table._

Dusknoir: Zoroark. Due to your dangerously high levels of power and questionable moral decisions you have displayed thus far…we hereby sentence you to banishment in outer space!

Officer Magnezone: I concur, ZZZT!

Zoroark (spits in their faces): —! *tch*… (Outer space, huh? This won't be the last they've heard of me…)

Narrator: Though Palkia personally dumped Zoroark on an asteroid about to be sucked into a black hole, Zoroark easily escaped. He could turn into Palkia and escape by himself! He flew around the universe, finding new alien civilizations, and trying to conquer them…but the end result was always the same. They subdued him and kicked him back out into space.

_He is sitting on an asteroid, under the shadow of a cave overhang, glaring at the ground, muttering to himself._

Zoroark (getting more and more bitter): It's all their fault. It's all their blasted fault. Amy…Chikorita…and that blasted Grovyle, too! If it weren't for you three, none of this…I mean, NONE of this…would ever have happened to me! I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!

Narrator: Yes, he eventually came to despise the three heroes. And it would've been that maybe, just maybe, he would've given up all hope of becoming the #1 villain in the galaxy…if it weren't for that fateful day…on Planet SR-388!

_Planet SR-388. A forsaken planet with no trace of civilization on it. Once the home of the parasitic Metroids, it now has a disjointed ecosystem. Zoroark is sitting in the middle of a bunch of rocks and alien vegetation as well as random pieces from a space station that recently crashed, still railing and bellyaching on about how his life sucks, but this time, only in his head. He hears footsteps approach behind him, but it doesn't really surprise him, either._

Zoroark: Okay…who the heck is it now?

_The mysterious visitor shoots an Ice Beam at him. He quickly dodges and shoots some Dark Void attacks of his own, which she promptly leaps over. She scans Zoroark's power levels._

Zoroark: Whoa, dang! Do you, like, know me?

?: Ooooo…I could use you.

Zoroark: Wait a second…who ARE you?

?: You don't know ME? The most famous bounty hunter in the galaxy?

Zoroark: Well, I'm the most famous sadistic would-be-planet-conqueror in the galaxy. Do** you** know **me?**

?: I believe we have something in common. Very well. My name is Samus Aran.

Zoroark: I'm Zoroark. Now what do you want, lady?

_It's true; the lady standing right in front of Zoroark looks exactly like Samus Aran, complete with Power Suit, Arm Cannon, all 8 bajillion (okay, only 8) visors, Ice Beam, Diffusion Missiles…you get the idea. She sits down, ready to discuss things._

?: I can sense it. You are just like me. You wish to conquer this pathetic galaxy…but they keep foiling you. I know how you feel. I'll let you in on a little secret.

_Before he can move, she whips her Grapple Beam at his arm and drags him in to whisper in one of his giant fox-like ears._

?: This body…I'm not really Samus Aran. I copied her…the accursed hunter who denied me of a prize I realized would come to me, a prize more glorious than I could've ever imagined.

Zoroark: What the frack are you talking about? Let me go, you—!

? (tightening her grip): I can infect creatures, kill them, and copy every memory they've ever had. I can do it to you right now unless you cooperate.

_He nods, intimidated. She slackens her grips and continues explaining things._

?: Now let me explain. I am the Queen of the so-called X Parasites. You can call me Queen X. Ever since Samus Aran wiped out those accursed Metroids for us, we've been able to finally conquer this planet. And then the day came when one of my subjects happened to infect her. Those Biologic Space Lab fools sent her to their research station, where she broke out and continued my legacy for me. We conquered the whole station, and it turned out that some Galactic Federation ships were going to land soon. We could've killed them, absorbed their memories, left the station, and went on to conquer the galaxy for ourselves!

Zoroark: …So? Why didn't you?

Queen X: Because of…**her.** Samus Aran figured it all out. So she sent the station on a collision course with this planet! You can see the wreckage all around you right here.

Zoroark: Ooooh. I wondered what happened here.

Queen X: A great number of my subjects perished, but many more survived and returned to me, allowing me to gain all of this knowledge…and the powers of that accursed hunter. So you see, I am forced to sit here and do nothing but regret the past, knowing that if only I had some way to turn back time, this galaxy would've been mine by now. But you can get me off this forsaken rock, correct? That's where you come in.

Zoroark: Look, pal. I'm a one-man planet-conquering band here, so if you think I'm gonna help you, you've got another thought coming—

_She freezes him with her Ice Beam, and then shatters the ice with a particularly nasty Super Missile. Zoroark survives the onslaught, but just barely. He is left twitching on the ground, with health at near-zero._

Queen X: I've already proved that I'm the alpha here. Now if you want to avoid any more excruciating pain, why don't you tell me your story? I'm sure we can come to some agreement here.

Zoroark (weakly): …...Okay.

_So he tells her everything, from finding out about his hero Darkrai, to being driven to this place._

Queen X: I knew it. You **are** a fellow biomorph. I believe I understand that if you were given a chance to make this Amy, Chikorita, and Grovyle suffer, you would take it, yes?

Zoroark: Heck, yeah!

Queen X: Then we have a deal. You get me off this accursed rock, and I'll help you inflict as much pain on them as possible.

Zoroark: Now we're talkin'!

_He morphs into Palkia and lets her jump on. But before he can take off into the air,, a Dimensional Hole opens right in front of him. He screeches to a halt._

Zoroark: WHOA. THAT WAS CLOSE. I WONDER IF DARKRAI IS GOING TO COME OUT…?

Queen X: Nope.

_Out of the hole comes a tall, floating, ancient being with eight bright, glowing wings._

?: Do not be so hasty, Zoroark…and my queen. I must warn you about your impending doom.

Zoroark: WHO ARE YOU?

Queen X: "My queen"? Wait a second…are you one of my subjects?

?: That is correct. I have copied a being from the future. His name is Kel-Zich, one of the smartest of the Ylla in the universe, so you may call me Kel-Zich-X. I know everything that will befall you.

Queen X: Oh yeah? Prove it.

Zoroark: UH…YEAH! WHAT SHE SAID!

Kel-Zich-X: That I shall. Here, my queen. Absorb my knowledge.

_For half a second, Zoroark sees who their true forms are: A Core-X inside the Ylla, and a mass of Core-X's welded together into one being inside of "Samus". Some gelatinous X Parasites fly out of the Core-X, and Queen X absorbs them. It was only a split-second, but enough to convince Zoroark that these creatures are not to be trifled with. The X Parasite copy of Kel-Zich explains everything while Queen X reflects upon her newfound knowledge—and power. Yes, eight new wings emerge from her back, dripping with power._

Kel-Zich-X: In the future, Zoroark's enemies—Amy, Chikorita and Grovyle—and your greatest enemy, my queen—Samus Aran—will team up with each other. They will easily wipe you both out as if you were nothing but a tiny little microorganism. But through Kel-Zich's brain, I have discovered the reason why. It is because of the being that controls everything that happens in this universe. Her name is Amy [you know who].

Queen X: And she is…?

Kel-Zich-X: A human from another dimension.

_Zoroark and Queen X just stare, dumbfounded. Then they laugh._

Kel-Zich-X: I am not kidding. The girl is more dangerous than you can possibly imagine. Her mind controls everything that happens in this galaxy. As long as she remains in her home dimension, you two, whom she has personally classified as villains, are destined to always fail.

Zoroark: OTHER DIMENSIONS DON'T EXIST! …OR DO THEY?

Kel-Zich-X: They most certainly do. So I want you to do this. Zoroark? I want you to pull the girl out of her home dimension and set her up in the path that I have devised for her.

Zoroark: WHICH IS…?

_Kel-Zich-X pulls out a hologram projector and hands it over to the past Queen X, who opens it and reads it voraciously. Zoroark reverts back to his original form so he can squeeze next to the past Queen X and read it too. Yes, he learned how to read English from the many planets under Galactic Federation jurisdiction that he visited. As they read, their eyes grow wider and wider, and finally, they finish. _

Queen X: Okay, let me get this straight. You want Zoroark to take me to Planet Portania first, while he does all the work?

Zoroark: And I go 500 years into the past, pull this girl out of that dimension of hers, have her join that accursed Team Pecha on their space adventure which will happen two months from now, somehow steer her to Capital Planet today, infiltrate Galactic Federation HQ, copy Samus Aran's boss-man, tell her she's fired, order these Space Pirate dudes to attack but don't kill them, ambush them at this Axiatomic Link on the off-chance they actually go, and the rest will take care of itself?

Queen X: All I do is absorb this girl? And when I do, I should go into the past at these intervals to make sure this all happens? What the heck kind of plan is that?

Kel-Zich-X: That is all precisely right. You see, my queen, I was lucky to get away from them with my life. So now I shall give you a chance to make everything right. The first thing you shall do is go to the Space Pirate Homeworld and conquer the indigenous Space Pirates. They will help provide the means to make this all possible.

Queen X: Okay…if you say so. But I don't get why the girl has to stay with our enemies for that long.

Kel-Zich-X: Zoroark. Your enemies, Team Pecha, have always been but a tiny Jigglypuff and Chikorita. Have you not always wondered why, against all odds, they have always won?

Zoroark: Not really. Wait…are you saying…?

Kel-Zich-X: Yes. The girl loves those two the most, so of course she shall find a way to make them win no matter what. If you pull her out of her home dimension, she shall no longer have any control over you two, or any of them. But she will still befriend them all extremely quickly, because she knows them the best.

Queen X: You said she knows everything…but not what we're planning at this very moment, right?

Kel-Zich-X: Correct. Specifically, she knows everything that ever happened in the lives of her friends, and she is smart enough to not reveal her knowledge. I want you to make that knowledge her undoing…force her to reveal everything to her friends. Make her friends **crush** her! I want you both to make her suffer like never before! Understand?

Zoroark: Yes, sir!

Queen X: You are an excellent subject.

Zoroark: By the way…if you're from the future, why are you telling us all of this?

_Kel-Zich-X's eyes widen and he suddenly starts flickering out of existence in a mass of yellow light. Oddly enough, he's smiling._

Kel-Zich-X: I shall sacrifice my life to allow my queen to succeed. Now that I have changed the future, I shall go. Farewell, my queen. Farewell, Zoroark. Long live our X Parasite Empire!

_And he disappears, leaving Zoroark and Queen X to stare at each other in confusion._

Queen X: Okaaay…So, uh…Permanent truce?

Zoroark: Permanent truce.

_Zoroark morphs into Palkia again while Queen X somersaults on. Zoroark warps the two of them into outer space and instead of going to Planet Portania in the past like he originally planned,_ _he travels to Capital Planet. _

Narrator: As the first part of their new plan, Zoroark and Queen X infiltrated the Galactic Federation Headquarters to check on Samus Aran's employment status. There wasn't much time.

_He's crawling in the ventilation system, peering down into the room below, along with Queen X. It's Commander Tierney's office. The 62-year-old commander man is sitting at his desk, crushing a piece of paperwork in his hand in anger. He's talking with one of his subordinates over the hologram "phone". _

Commander Tierney (getting furious): What, really? She did that? **Our** Samus Aran did that?

Zoroark: (I see…so that Samus Aran is in some hot water with the top brass already.)

_The call ends. Commander Tierney slams his fists on his desk._

Commander Tierney: That [b$?#!&]! What the [h*!#%] was she thinking? Does she think we're a bunch of [f&*!#%]-ing simpletons? [D#?%!$&]! Crashing it like it was a piece of [s&*#]? Does she realize that it cost us $979 bajillion bucks to build that thing?** Does** she? We have to fire her.

Zoroark: (Sheesh…naughty naughty. Language. But according to the plan, we can't have her fired…yet. Let me fix this.)

Narrator: See, if the real Samus got word of the fact that she was fired upon her and Adam crashing the BSL station, their plan would be all over.

_He kicks the vent cover down and hits the commander on the head, then pounces on him! He uses the Dark Pulse and knocks the commander out. After he ties up the guy, he drags the guy to a secret room in the back and locks him up. Finally, he transforms himself into an exact copy of Commander Teirney, sits at the desk, accesses the Galactic Federation files, and revokes Samus Aran's terminated employment status…for now. By then, Queen X jumps out of the ventilation system to confirm that Zoroark did everything correctly._

Zoroark: This looks good, right?

Queen X: Perfect! Now let's go. I want to see my new loyal subjects.

_He and Queen X then go to the Space Pirate Homeworld to conquer it._

Narrator: And so, Zoroark's terrifying ability to morph into anyone (especially legendary Pokémon), combined with Queen X's even more terrifying ability to infect the entire population of Space Pirates with her X Parasites, allowed them to conquer the entirety of the planet within a week. Zoroark then promptly snuck Queen X onto the ambush point on Planet Portania, the Forgotten Wasteland. He then spent the rest of the month training the troops, hiring "replacement bounty hunters"…

_Zoroark is presiding over an "audition", so to speak, of Space Pirates, all of whom are trying out for the role of being Samus Aran's replacements._

Zoroark: Next!

_Two Space Pirate guys swagger in, chuckling. The one on the left, who speaks first, is taller and thinner, while the one on the right is shorter and fatter._

Zark: Whoa-ho! I'm Zark!

Zork: I'm Zork!

Zark: & Wii r…Redi, boys? 3, 2, 1, hit it!

Wii r teh pirates, who don't do nothin'...  
Wii just stay home, & lie around,  
& if u ask us 2 do anythin',  
Wii just tell u…Wii don't do nothin'!

_Zoroark would've immediately shouted "NEXT!", but their language struck him as being somehow familiar. He listens to the whole song and sees that these guys can display competent capture and destructive abilities too. _

Zoroark: (Now where have I heard their type of voices before? Wait a second! This is like Team Skull, those dudes who really annoyed the [c*#$] out of that accursed Team Pecha! That means they'd probably annoy the [c%!#*$] out of that girl, too. On one hand, this song and dance is stupid, but on the other hand, they're pretty good with those cloaking devices and reflector shields…)

_By the time the song is finished, he has come to a decision._

Zoroark: You boys…are hired!

Zark: Say wha…?

Zork: *gasp*! OMG! U serious?

Zoroark (switching speech styles): Can u dooshebags not heer me? I sed…U…R…**hired**. H-I-R-D.

_They whoop and start cheering._

Zark and Zork: Wii did it! Wii did it Wii did it Wii did it!

Zark: U rule, Boss-Man!

Zork: Yeh, Boss-Man! U r so l33t!

Zoroark: (Boss-Man? Hmm…I love the sound of that!)

Narrator: With Zark and Zork hired, Zoroark spent the next month placing the Space Pirate troops into position over Capital Planet. After Queen X asserted herself as their leader (which wasn't hard, as Samus' appearance and Kel-Zich's wings combined to remind them of Dark Samus a long time ago), Zoroark helped her find a perfect place to hide on Planet Portania: The Forgotten Wasteland. Soon enough, everything was in position. The Space Pirates were ready. Queen X was lying in wait, and hungry. Zork, Zark, and Zoroark continued to make sure Commander Tierney didn't escape and ruin their plans.

_Samus' purple ship leaves Capital Planet en route to Planet Ceres. After morphing back from Commander Tierney, Zoroark climbs to the top of the Galactic Federation building. He has morphed into an alien with a big antenna that can hack into radio frequencies, and hears the following conversation._

Adam: Okay, here's our only chance to prove our loyalty to the Galactic Federation. Our mission is to infiltrate and destroy the new Space Pirate base on Planet Ceres at Quadrant 9, Section 012, Area 84. It's unusually close to that old research station where they researched the last Metroid and—

Samus (a bit more curtly than she intended): Adam. I get the point.

Adam: Very well. Any objections, Lady?

Samus: The only things I'd object to are any more of those reminders of the past, Adam. You know that.

Zoroark: (…It's time!)

_The ship engages the hyperdrive and blasts off. Zoroark talks into his walkie-talkie thingy._

Zoroark: Fleets C-31 and G-82, engage the operation now, and prepare the Dimensional Wormhole. The accursed hunter is coming. Over.

Space Pirate over the radio: Wii redi, Boss-Man. Over.

Narrator: So Samus Aran successfully infiltrated the hastily-constructed base, defeated all the Space Pirates there, and activated the self-destruct mechanism, successfully escaping just in time. But en route back to Capital Planet, the real fleet ambushed her and Adam and, in the midst of the battle, pushed them into the wormhole going straight into the past…forcing them to crash-land on Planet Portania. As for Zoroark, he had one final plan of his own…which, if it didn't work, would make all of their hard work worthless.

_Zoroark opens a dimensional hole and enters it. He looks around the time tunnel for the dimension where the girl lives, and finds it. The device he's holding beeps loudly, confirming it._

Zoroark: (That must be her. These energy readings are off the charts. Queen X and that Ylla dude said that this was the most dangerous part. If I remember correctly, due to the difference in fabric of her reality, I can only pull her into this dimension though her dreams.)

_Seeing that she is in the midst of a dream, he turns into Palkia and crosses the dimensions, entering her dream._

Zoroark: (Jackpot. Prepare yourself, Amy [you know who]! You shall never control my life again. As of now, **your** life…is **mine!**)

—The End of the Interlude—


	17. Meanie Butt Mayhem

—Act 2: Chozo Wisdom—

**Author's Note: I actually have no idea what Samus Aran's blood type really is. But for the purposes of this chapter, I'll assume it's A.**

Chapter 17: Meanie-Butt Mayhem

_Samus and Celebi slowly open their eyes, pushing themselves up off of the ground. They hear frantic voices, the beep of equipment, a hissing sound, and sighs of relief. They look around and find themselves in a vast chamber in the middle of a mountain, complete with mechanical equipment and a huge ring lining the wall vertically, reaching from the floor to the ceiling. It looks like a jump gate. They then see four enclosed blue pods that Samus recognizes are for cryogenic suspension. Finally, they notice the multitude of bird-like bipedal beings running around the place, but mostly crowded around the four pods._

Samus: Uuugh…Wh…Where are we?

Celebi: What are they…looking at…?

_She flies up to take a closer look and gasps. Both Amy's (the Jigglypuff and the human), Chikorita, and Grovyle are in them! Samus also catches up and doesn't act as surprised._

Celebi (panicking): AAAH! Grovyle! Grovyle!

Samus: Alien girl. They're just in cryostasis pods. They'll be fine.

Random Chozo people: Are you okay?  
What did you see?  
Do you know these beings?

Celebi: Whoa whoa whoa! Time out, alien people! What the heck ARE you, anyway?

Old Bird: I believe I should explain.

_The crowd respectfully becomes silent and parts to let the two elderly male Chozo through. Old Bird, who walks with a gnarled cane of some sort, is shorter and a little fatter, while his and best friend Gray Voice is taller and a little thinner. __(I wonder how they would react if they ever met Zark and Zork…) They both clearly have way more wrinkles on their skin than the average Chozo, though, and speak in a formal way__. When she sees them, Samus becomes stone-still in shock. She turns on her Scan Visor, thinking her eyes are fooling her._

Old Bird: We are the Chozo, who wish to bring peace and enlightenment throughout the galaxy. The X Parasites have infected your friends here, but the cryostasis pods are now freezing the parasites in place.

Gray Voice: Do not worry. They are still alive. We have saved them.

Samus (choking up): …Old Bird? Gray Voice?

Old Bird (shocked): …Samus Aran? Is that…really you?

_For the first time ever in this story, Samus finally shows true emotion. She shuts her Power Suit off completely to prove that it's really her and leaps at them to hug them. Even in her Zero Suit, she still almost bowls them over. Celebi is just hovering in place, eyes twitching, and pointing a finger at Samus._

Celebi (completely flabbergasted): *—*—*—*—*—… (…She's a human too?)…* —*—*…

_See, Celebi's trying to say something, but is too shocked to. In stark contrast, Samus can't stop the words from flowing out of her mouth, almost completely losing her composure._

Samus: Grandpa! Father! I can't believe it! You're here. You're really here. I don't get it. Father, didn't Mother Brain kill you back on Zebes? How'd you survive? How'd you escape and find Grandpa? And why are you guys here, anyway? I…I missed you…

Gray Voice: Calm down, child. We shall explain everything.

Celebi (completely confused): *—*—*—*—*—… ("Grandpa"? "Father"? Wha…? Am I missing something here?)… * —*—*…

_Old Bird and Gray Voice lead Samus and Celebi to their home in the village outside, while the other Chozo push the four cryostasis pods after them. Samus and Celebi don't say anything at all. Even though their minds are bubbling with questions, they decide it's prudent to be respectful and observe the surroundings. After everything's been pushed into place in the main living room, the Chozo disperse to do whatever they were doing before. Finally, Old Bird and Gray Voice sit down, and start explaining._

Old Bird: So you see, Samus, Gray Voice and I were the only ones whom suspected something when you told us all that Mother Brain was working for the Space Pirates. True, we did not want to believe, especially since we relied on her for so long, remember?

Samus: Ugh! Don't remind me… (That stinker…no respect for life…always bossing me around…)

Gray Voice: But we prepared an escape pod just in case. Turns out you were correct. The day Mother Brain called in the Space Pirate raid, Old Bird and I boarded the shuttle out there.

_He gestures to an orange ship outside the window. It almost looks like it could be Samus' original gunship._

Old Bird: So we decided to retreat here, where our ancestors originated. It's the safest place in the galaxy, and only us Chozo know where it is.

Celebi: Okay, so where the heck are we, anyway?

Gray Voice: And who might you be?

Celebi: I'm Celebi. I really hope you know what you're doing, 'cause if anything happens to dear Grovyle here, you're gonna get it.

Old Bird: Understood. Right. Anyway, to answer your question, this planet is hidden within the depths of the Oort Nebula, in the galaxy's outer rim. The nebula is surrounded by pieces of old dilapidated probes. No sonar or telescope can penetrate it. We are completely safe here. Samus Aran? Celebi? Welcome to Planet Chozodia.

_He gestures to the whole village below them downhill. Samus and Celebi see Chozo villagers walking to and from buildings, talking, running errands, and in general, living in peace. There are a few other alien species of some sorts, but they decide not to ask about them for the moment. In general, the whole place looks like a Native American village welded with the natural environment from the outside, but inside the houses, there must be all sorts of technological wonders._

Samus and Celebi: Woooow…

Samus: So can you explain how and why Celebi and I were suddenly warped from Planet Portania to here?

Old Bird: Yes. That machine you saw in there was the Teleportation Warp Gate that our ancestors built in case anything like this were to happen. Luckily, it worked. We used it to transport the six of you here.

Celebi: But why us?

Old Bird: Not you, primarily. Her. This girl here…

_He walks up to the capsule with the only human in it._

Old Bird: …holds the very fabric of this universe together.

_Samus and Celebi just stare, and their jaws drop._

Samus: HER? Amy [you know who]?

Celebi: A human? Are you kidding me?

Gray Voice: Absolutely not. Our friend Kel-Zich, a Ylla who lives here, correctly identified her as such. Did you not notice the fabric of time and space collapsing all around you not long ago?

Celebi: I knew it! It WAS collapsing!

Samus: Because the X infected her? Why? What's so special—? Oh wait. Is it maybe because…she knows everything…?

Old Bird: Even Kel-Zich is still researching into the reason why that should be so. Nevertheless, we cannot awaken the girl until we find some serum to cure her, however long it takes. Perhaps for all time.

Samus: We need Metroid DNA to cure her, right? In that case, use mine!

_She holds out her wrist and searches for some hidden flap in the Zero Suit that'll allow her to expose her skin, but Old Bird stops her._

Old Bird: No, child. Your blood type is A. Her blood type is B negative. It will only kill her.

Samus: Oh, right…W—well then, maybe the Pokémon—?

Gray Voice: The Pokémon don't have "blood". It cannot work for them at all.

Samus: So what can I do? Can't you just filter the Metroid DNA from my blood, and…and…?

Old Bird and Gray Voice (looking grave): …

Samus: Don't tell me…We need to find more Metroid DNA…?

Old Bird and Gray Voice: …

Samus (feeling guilty): …It's my fault, isn't it? The Federation hired me to kill all the Metroids in the universe, and the last Metroid died to protect me…and…Wait! There could be one last one on SR-388, where I crashed the BSL Research Station's Restricted Zone…or a serum on Planet Ceres that the Space Pirates overlooked!

Old Bird: Yes…So it is up to you. What will you do now? Will you go investigate?

Gray Voice: You do know the high possibility of failure. Will you still go?

Samus: …

_Samus turns to look at the sleeping form of Amy [you know who]. Another guilty wave sweeps through her._

Samus: …if I don't…she'll have to sleep like this forever?

Old Bird: Until the day the galaxy ends.

Samus: … (I feel so bad. She was right. They were all right. If only I believed them…this never would've happened.) …I have no choice. I have to go. Even if my chances are next to nothing…I have to save them. No matter what.

_Within the next few hours, the two Chozo fix up the ship in the backyard and adjust it to look like Samus' old gunship._

Old Bird: Remember this?

Samus: Yeah… (It feels just like the day I said goodbye to them…)

_She takes the oddly silent black box, goes inside, and connects it to the computer inside. As it powers on…_

Samus: Adam? You still alive in there?

Adam: *zzk*—Huh what? What just happened? HEY! Where the heck are we?

Samus (jaw agape): …You were asleep the whole time?

_So of course she has to explain everything._

Adam: Cool. You got your old gunship back, so to speak. So now we're going back to SR-388 to find a sample of Metroid DNA from the BSL that we crashed?

Samus: Yeah.

Adam: I'll admit that the probability of finding any will be extremely unlikely…

Samus: …but I have to do it. For those kids. I never got to thank them. Never.

_Adam sees how devastated Samus is and holds back any smart-alecky response he would've otherwise given._

Adam: …You're right. I know what you mean. Any objections, Lady?

_She shakes her head._

Adam: Then let's go.

_Samus turns her Power Suit back on and starts the ship up, waving goodbye to Old Bird, Gray Voice, and Celebi. She takes the ship out of the atmosphere of Planet Chozodia and sets a course for Planet SR-388.  
_

_

* * *

_

_They quickly encounter their first obstacle: total darkness from the outer nebula surrounding the system. Adam turns the ship lights on. Suddenly, they lurch out of hyperspace just in time to catch their next obstacle: A massive asteroid belt littered with mechanical garbage. Samus quickly switches to manual control._

Samus: Hold on!

Adam: Lady, there's no one on board anymore.

Samus: I KNOW! It was a figure of speech.

Adam: (Figure of speech, huh, Samus? I wonder if you meant more than that…)

_She expertly dodges all of the obstacles, despite all the close calls. Finally, they make it through only to see the final obstacle: A black hole!_

Samus: Activate hyperdrive NOW!

Adam: Aye-aye, Lady!

_And they escape, just like that. Finally, Samus and Adam can relax as the ship travels to SR-388. None of them say anything throughout the whole trip. About 20 minutes later, the ship slows out of hyperspeed, and comes to a stop. They're right in front of Planet SR-388._

Adam: We're here. I'm assuming you've been here before, Lady?

Samus: Yeah. Twice. (Wow…I still remember it all…the first time to exterminate all the Metroids…and the second time, to provide field assistance to those researchers…and then the X infected me…)

Adam: So, Lady? Where do you want us to go?

Samus: Huh—what? Oh yeah. Scan the planet. We're looking for the place where I crashed the Restricted Zone, remember? Not the entire space station.

Adam: Oh yeah! I don't know what was more wild; that the Galactic Federation was breeding Metroids in secret in there, or that you actually had the temerity to break in and find out about it.

Samus (suddenly saddened): …Don't remind me. It's already been three weeks. We just have to hope that some Metroid DNA is still there.

Adam: Found it! Looks like a wreck, though.

Samus: Good. Let's go.

_She takes the ship down to the place that Adam pinpointed. They land on flat ground, the safest place. They can see the crashed remains of the Restricted Zone strewn all over a mountaintop. Samus exits the ship through the top and takes in her surroundings of the rocky and spongy terrain._

Adam: Sorry I can't download a map for you, Lady.

Samus: No need. I'll search the wreckage.

_She somersaults off the ship and starts running. The familiar eerie landscape gives her a sense of déjà vu and suddenly brings tears to her eyes._

Samus: (That's right…it was the Galactic Federation that deemed the Metroids too dangerous to exist, not me. But they still hired me to kill them all, because no one else could. And then…and then…that baby Metroid…) *sniff*…(I'm sorry, baby Metroid…you've protected me not once, but twice, even after Mother Brain killed you, and yet I…)

_She blinks her tears away and focuses on the mission at hand._

Samus: (…I don't know if saving these people will ever make it up to you…but I will try. I promise you that. No matter what.)

_She utilizes all the tools in her arsenal to climb to the top; Space Jumps for the main climbing, Grapple Beams to secure her position, Morph Ball to fit into tiny crevices, and her arsenal of Power Beams and Missiles to defeat the aggressive creatures along the way. She is not surprised to see that almost all of them have been infected by X Parasites already, and absorbs them all in midair, regaining energy and missiles._

Samus: (This can't be good. X Parasites aren't supposed be able to hang out around an area with Metroid DNA. Please say there's at least some left…)

_Okay, so maybe she worries a little. She continues on, and finally reaches the top, where all of the wreckage is concentrated the most heavily. She turns on her scan visor and scans the wreckage all over, desperate._

Samus: (Please please please please please…)

_The Scan Visor turns up empty in terms of Metroid DNA. All that comes up are crashed computer systems, diagrams of the Metroid development cycle, and other related junk. Suddenly, she hears a voice._

Zoroark: Huh. Queen X was right.

_Samus suddenly sees Zoroark sitting casually upon a high rock formation, tossing two vials of green liquid up and down. She shoots a ton of ice beams at the guy, but he leaps up, dodging it, and lands in front of her._

Samus: YOU! You're still alive?

Zoroark: Excuse me? For your information, my name's not "you". It's "Zoroark."

Samus (almost shocked): Zoroark?

_She shoots Super Missiles this time, but he uses Shadow Force to dodge it and retaliate with a savage slash of dark energy, knocking her down._

Samus: You—you were the one who fired me! You locked the real Commander Tierney up behind his office, didn't you?

Zoroark: Very good.

_He morphs into Commander Tierney for a moment._

Zoroark: Well, well, well. Looks like my act is up. You know, Samus Aran, you're smarter than I thought.

_She tries to kick him from below to trip him, but he simply morphs back and attacks her again, this time a huge Dark Pulse launching her into the air and smashing her into the rock formation._

Zoroark: Unfortunately for you, you're too late. Well? How does it feel to be personally responsible for hurting three innocent little girls and their Grovyle friend?

_Samus turns on her Scan Visor and finds that the vials contain an immensely concentrated amount of Metroid DNA! She shoots her Grapple Beam at it, but he pulls it out of the way in time._

Zoroark: Whoops! Close one. Almost forgot about these little buggers.

Samus (paleing): Huh…?

Zoroark: That's right. I know about how Metroids eat X Parasites. I'd gladly give this to you, *cough cough*…but I'm under Queen X's strict orders to dispose of anything that might threaten her. I assume you need this to save your little friends?

Samus (practically exploding in anger): What's it to YOU?

_She tries one more time, but Zoroark morphs into Palkia and rises into the air._

Zoroark (mocking): CAREFUL. I JUST…MIGHT…BREAK IT BY… "ACCIDENT". JUST TRY TO CATCH ME, SAMUS ARAN! I DARE YOU.

_He envelops himself in a ball of yellow light and flies off into the sky. Samus screams in agony and frustration._

Samus: AAAGH! (Why can't I ever…even…leave a scratch on that guy? Why does this keep happening to me?)

_She somersaults down the mountain as fast as she can and lands on the ship, entering it and immediately manning the controls. She's desperate, furious, and really really flustered._

Samus: ADAM! We have to go, NOW!

Adam: On it, Lady! I saw what happened. I swear, I will personally shoot down that sadist myself…

_They drive the ship out of SR-388's gravity and chase the yellow orb that is Zoroark. Unfortunately, they lose him, though they find that he was headed in the general direction of Planet Ceres._

Adam: Screw it…He got away.

Samus: There's only one hope then. We have to go to where the lab was and see if they have any more cell cultures of Metroids. Come on. Next time I see him, I'll shoot him down too.

_They land right outside the wrecked remains of the Ceres Space Colony's lab, clearly blasted apart by an earlier self-destruct blast. Samus leaves the ship and scans the place, but again, no results. Suddenly a voice emits from another high platform…_

Zark: Yo! Sa-moose!

_She shoots at Zark and Zork, Teh Pirates Who Don't Do Nothin'. They casually turn on their reflector shields __(clearly swiped from the Star Fox games) __and reflect the blast back at her, knocking her down again. They then start laughing._

Zork: OMG! U r like teh n00biest haz-been-famous-but-now-n00bish n00b of all time! How could u fall 4 teh same trick 3 timez in a row?

Zark: Wii knew u were no l33t bounty hunter no more!

Samus: Wh…what are you punks doing here?

Zork: Oh, right! Be4 Wii 4get, Wii…uh…Whut wuz dat line again, Zark?

Zark: U dooshebag. It wuz dis: "Lookin' 4 dis?" Dere! Wii sed it! Wanna heer it again? OK! Lookin' 4 dis?

_Zork follows Zark's lead and juggles another vial of green liquid—Metroid DNA. Samus gasps. Upon hearing that, the meanie-butts grin nastily._

Zark: 2 bad 4 u. Why don't u go 2 yer l33t homies 4 help? Oh, right! Wii 4got. U don't have no homies, Sa-moose! U pwned dem!

Zork: It takes 1 n00b 2 pwn 4 n00bs, heh? Good 4 u, Sa-moose!

Samus: QUIT CALLING ME THAT!

_This time, she leaps right at them, smacking them both with a Screw Attack. Looks like their shields weren't prepared for that move. She reaches out for the vials, but to her chagrin, they both drop. Neither of them break, but she can't reach for them both at once, and the meanie-butts take advantage of that fact to scoop them up and activate their jet-packs._

Zark: Wii'll say hi 2 Mr. Boss-Man 4 u, Sa-moose! LOL!

Zork: C ya l8er, Sa-moose! TTFN! LOLOLOLOLOL!

_They snigger and launch nasty Space Pirate spitballs at her as they fly into the air. Samus races back to Adam, and they give chase. Right when they're about to catch up…Zoroark, as Palkia, swoops down and snatches the meanie-butts up!_

Zoroark: YOINK!

Samus and Adam: Wha…!

Zark: Right on time, Boss-Man!

Zork: Yeh, yeh! U r so l33t!

Zark: Hey, I just got a gr8 idea! Let's play catch!

_The meanie-butts and Zoroark start throwing the four capsules between each other, always over the ship._

Zork: Yeh! Catch it, bro!

Zark: Now u catch it, Zork!

Zoroark: GIVE ME A TURN TOO, BOYS!

Samus and Adam: *GAAAR!*

_It's so frustrating! These are the last vials of Metroid DNA in the universe, and here are these meanie-butts, treating it like it's all some kind of game. No matter how many laser cannons Samus and Adam shoot at them, they dodge every single one, and Zoroark-Palkia's space distortion shields block the ones that actually do hit. It truly is meanie-butt mayhem._

Zark: Whoa-ho! Dere's our ride!

Zoroark: THIS IS WHERE THE FUN BEGINS. HEH HEH HEH…

_Samus and Adam chase them to a huge Space Pirate ship, the same one that ambushed them at the Axiatomic Link. They all land, and Samus gives chase, following the three of them into the ship. Of course, Zoroark morphs back into his original form as he enters the ship. Samus blasts open the door and…a Greater AND a Lesser Ithrak jump down from the ceiling and land on her face!_

Samus: AAAAAGH!

Zoroark, Zark and Zork: LOLOLOL! Pwned!

_Quickly remembering that their weak points were their tails, she turns into Morph Ball and rolls behind them, planting Power Bombs in their weak spots. She reverts to normal form and continues to run after the meanie-butts. Her Speed Booster activates just as the Power Bombs explode, allowing her to escape the rush of the vacuum the bombs create by blowing up the wall, too._

Zork: So dat Speed Booster of her's finally works, huh?

Zark: Shut yer trap, Zork! Wii r so screwed!

Zoroark: No we're not. I've been expecting this.

_Samus is approaching them at speeds of Mach 4, using such skills as the Shinespark that are familiar to Metroid fans. She climbs through the ship, blasting through Space Pirates and other creatures on board. Right when she reaches them, Zoroark throws himself in front of her and morphs into…a titanium-reinforced brick-wall-type alien._

SFX: WHAM!

Zark and Zork: *pffft*… Total pwnage! ROFL LMAO LOLOLOL!

Samus: Oooow…

Zoroark (really weird accent): Iz not ovah yet! TIM-BAAAAAHHH!

Samus: Wha—wha—!

_He's shouting "TIMBER!" and falls flat on Samus, squishing her. He then morphs back into his original form, doubling over in laughter. Samus can't say a thing and just lies there, head spinning. Her health is dangerously low, and there are warning bleeps her suit is making._

Suit computer: Warning! Warning! Low energy. Shutdown imminent. Shutdown imminent!

Zoroark: Boys? She's all yours.

_To make matters worse, it's not just Zark and Zork. Every single Space Pirate in the area converges and starts shooting at her!_

Samus (in total agony): AAAAAAAH!

Suit computer: Function ceased. Shutting down.

_They stop shooting as the suit emits a bright yellow light that temporarily blinds everyone in the hallway. When the light clears, they see the Power Suit isn't there anymore. Samus blinks her eyes open and doesn't see any visor symbols anymore. She brings a blue-gloved hand to her face and groans._

Samus: (What else could go wrong now?)

Zark: *pfft*…Haxored! Haxored haxored haxored haxored—

Zork and Zoroark: Haxored haxored haxored haxored—

_All the Space Pirates can't control their laughter. Zero Suit form already? They just can't believe their luck. All that laughter just fills Samus with anger. She activates her laser whip._

Samus (wrathful): Shut up…shut up, you dirtbags! I'll KILL YOU!

Zark (sarcastic): Oooh…Wii scared!

Zork: Skedaddling time! TTFN! (Dis iz fun!)

_Zork, Zark, and Zoroark resume their flight through the ship, shoving Space Pirates out of the way, sniggering like crazy. Samus dashes after them, shredding through the enemies in the way with her laser whip. She might be even more athletic without her suit, but she can't access the Speed Booster anymore, and so she can never catch up with them. Finally, when the three of them are about to reach the control room, they shove one more surprise her way._

Sylux: I HAVE FOUND YOU AT LAST!

Samus (at her wit's end): Not…you…again!

_He shoots from his Shock Coil again, which Samus leaps over and jabs at him with the laser whip. He crumples instantly. With him done for, she barges into the last door and confronts the meanie-butts over the command bridge. She steps toward them, charging up her laser whip._

Zoroark: Well, well, well. Dead end. What do you know?

Samus (gritting her teeth): Give…them…BACK.

Zoroark: Sorry to say. We're under strict orders. We can't. I bet you'd like to know how we survived that Power Bomb you threw at us, though. This.

_He pulls a vial full of pink liquid that was sitting on the command module. Samus gasps._

Zoroark: Made from the bodily fluids of your little know-it-all friend, Amy [you know who]. It has the ability to restore us back to life anytime we want, so even if you blow up this ship of ours, we'll still survive. Now that we know what it's made out of, we don't need her alive anymore.

Zark: Don't move no closer! Wii can crush these in, like .00000015 seconds.

Zork: Give up alredi. U got no more Power Suit. Wii out# u 3-2-1! U got nowhere 2 run or hide.

Zoroark: You never should've survived that attack on K-2L. You never should've disobeyed Mother Brain and tried to stop the Space Pirates. You never should've become a bounty hunter at all!

Samus (stepping back in shock): How—how did you know—?

Queen X: Because…I am you.

Everyone in the room: *gasp*! The grand mistress!

_They all bow, and Samus looks behind her to see, on the computer monitor over the windows, another Samus. This Samus has a Power Suit on, and looks shockingly familiar._

Samus (blanching): SA-X?

Queen X: I know everything about you too, Samus Aran. Yes, you know who I am. I am Queen X, or as you'd call me, the SA-X. I know how you tried so hard to protect that baby Metroid, and you failed. You're destined to fail here too. Face it. You could never save anyone—these Metroids, Team Pecha, Grovyle…and especially not that accursed Amy [you know who]! At this point, you have two options. Either let us kill you, quickly and painlessly…or my loyal servants will smash these bottles and lock you in the dungeon with your misery forever! Make your choice.

_The video transmission ends. Samus can't speak at all. She desperately looks all around, from Zoroark and the meanie-butts to the Space Pirates operating the controls below, to the ones outside the door, watching with giddy anticipation, and back to Zoroark._

Samus: (She's right. She's completely right. I practically died the day the baby Metroid did. Can I live with that pain again? Can I? Should I? I would be a disgrace to the Galactic Federation if I let these creeps execute me…but at the same time…is it even worth it…to live with such misery for the rest of my life?)

_She falls to her knees, dropping the laser whip to the ground with a loud clang. Zoroark smiles. He places the Metroid DNA capsules down and strides up to her, sharpening his claws and generating a long blade out of dark energy._

Samus: …

_Her eyes squeeze shut in shame as she lowers her head. No more words need to be spoken; he already knows via her body language. He places the dark blade on her shoulder and angles it like a guillotine._

Zark and Zork (jaws dropping in disbelief): (No way. No friggin' way.)

Everyone else (chanting): Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it!

Zoroark: Muahahahaha…You chose well, Samus Aran. Right here, right now, we are going to decapitate you, bring your head to our grand mistress, and rid the galaxy of your meddling presence…for all time!

_He raises the blade, charges it up, and has one more word before he brings it down._

Zoroark: Now you know why evil always wins. **Because good is a dumb blonde!**

_Several things happen at once. Everyone in the room starts laughing. Right when he brings it down, she tries to trip him with a sweep kick, and this time, it works. Everyone is stunned._

Samus: What? You think I've never heard THAT before?

_She uses the opportunity to launch her laser whip at the four green Metroid DNA bottles as well as the pink one they're surrounding. It wraps around, and she yanks them in._

Zark and Zork: Hey!

_They charge. She runs up to them, dodges their lasers, jumps, and does a split kick on both of them. Since their reflector shields don't work on physical moves, they get launched on opposite walls of the command bridge room. She reaches the console and turns to face the crowd of stunned Space Pirates, furiously pressing buttons behind her. Zoroark tries to attack, but then realizes that Samus is gripping the precious pink vial and has to stop in place._

Samus: Now let me tell you guys something! It's true that I couldn't protect that baby Metroid…it's true that it tore me apart…but my friends, especially that Amy [you know who], taught me something even more important. For years, I've avoided closeness. For years, I've avoided the pain. But I just realized that in the end, I'd rather have loved and lost than never have loved at all!

Zoroark (nervous): C—careful with that…

_The meanie-butts notice something is up, but they can't see what Samus is doing behind her back._

Zark (whispering): Uh…dude?

Zork: Yeh?

Zark: Whut's she doin'?

Samus: It IS worth it to have friends! It IS worth it to have someone to fight for! I don't care what you or any other lousy X Parasite says. You can take everything from me and humiliate me over and over again, but no matter what, I'm going to do whatever it takes to save them all! **No…matter…what!**

_She pounds the final button in the sequence behind her._

Ship's computer voice: Self-destruct sequence activated. 60 seconds to self-destruct.

Random Space Pirate (flabbergasted): Only 60 seconds?

Zoroark: Well what are you all just standing there for? STOP HER!

_Only a few Space Pirates actually shoot at her, though. The rest are panicking, trying to run to their escape pods. Samus easily dodges them all and sprints at a breakneck pace, leaping over a fainted Sylux. She desperately dashes through the ship, silently admonishing herself for forgetting that she can no longer access the Speed Booster. Those five canisters she's holding don't make life any easier, and neither does the ship itself, which is by now shaking and blowing out random sections. Luckily, she finds a blown-out elevator shaft and leaps down it._

Samus: (You'd better be there, Adam! You'd better be there!)

_She lands on her feet perfectly, but the impact is still pretty painful. Ouch. Luckily, all she has to do is run down a few more corridors, and there's her ship, thankfully now in a hangar with oxygen in it. She somersaults onto the ship and enters._

Samus: Adam! Planet Chozodia! Get us out of here now!

Adam: On it. (Why does every mission with her have to end up like this…?)

_Samus shoves the vials in a safe containment valve and grips the controls, steering the ship away from the exploding Space Pirate vessel. Meanwhile, the Space Pirates at the bridge have no reason to worry._

Zoroark: Thinks she's so clever, huh? Too bad she doesn't know that we have…a cancellation button! (Muahahahaha!)

Imaginary SFX: Dun dun da!

_He opens the secret hatch on a secret console, only to find that there's a tag next to the button that says…you guessed it. "Out of order."_

Zoroark (completely stunned): … … …..

Random Commander: "Out of order"? [F?#*!#%]! Even in teh **future,** nothin' works!

Zoroark: Doesn't matter. We still have that girl's resurrection bodily fluid in a jar—

_He looks at where he placed them. They're all gone. The two meanie-butts finally recover._

Random Commander: As u were sayin'…?

Zoroark: … … …I now officially hate that woman.

Zark: She stole it, didn't she?

Zork: **Now** r Wii screwed?

Zoroark: …Yeah. We're screwed.

Ship's computer voice: 5 seconds to self-destruct.

Zoroark: CURSE YOU, SAMUS ARAN! CUUUURSE YOOOOOOOOOUU!

_Samus and Adam enter hyperspace just as the Space Pirate vessel completely explodes. Let's hope that this time the meanie-butts really are done for. Too bad they aren't laughing this time. No wait, they actually are. Told you they would die laughing._

_

* * *

_

_Samus and Adam successfully avoid the black hole, navigate through the asteroid belt, and find their way back to Planet Chozodia. They land right outside the village. She leaps out and waves the canisters in the air, jumping for joy._

Samus: I got it! I got it I got it I got it!

Old Bird: Excellent work, Samus! Bring them here, immediately!

_In the house, Old Bird and Gray Voice quickly inject each of the serums in Amy [you know who], Amy Vee Purima, Chikorita, and Grovyle, respectively._

Celebi: So this is gonna save Grovyle?

Samus: Not just him, all of them. Guaranteed. I'm living proof.

Celebi: YAAAAY! Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!

_Samus doesn't know how long Celebi's going to keep repeating herself, but as she watches, on the medical monitors, the X Parasites completely vanishing from their central nervous systems, she lets out a sigh of relief, as if a 2000-ton weight has just been removed from her shoulders._

Gray Voice: Vitals are stable. Complete success. We shall awaken them from cryogenic suspension now.

Celebi: "Cry-o-jen-ic sus-PEN-shin" is kinda hard to say, don't ya think?

Samus: You can also call it "cold sleep", you know.

Celebi: "Cold sleep", huh? Now that's easier!

_Samus leans back on the sofa and thinks over everything that's happened._

Samus: (…All of that mayhem, just for those Metroid vaccines? But still, no matter how insane it was…it was all worth it. I'm finally going to get to apologize to them. And I promise that I'll never make the same mistake again. Because…Amy [you know who]…you were right. You were right all along. Now I know what it means to finally be a true friend.)

_The pods hum to life, thawing the four occupants. When it's complete, the pod covers pop up, and steam pours out. Slowly, one by one…they open their eyes._

To be continued…

**Coming up next: I'm back! I'm back! I'm finally back! Hope I didn't give you all a heart attack thinking I actually killed myself off. I mean, come on! Would I really do that? Ahem. Anyway, while I may be excited beyond belief to finally see some actual Chozo people…I think Grovyle still wants to kill me. Can I escape? Can I convince him to spare me? Will I survive one of my worst fears ever, being trapped out in the wilderness…on **A Dark and Stormy Night**?**


	18. A Dark and Stormy Night

Chapter 18: A Dark and Stormy Night

"Uugh…"

Where am I?

Didn't I die?

Is this…heaven?

I heard a hissing sound as I opened my eyes. Maybe several. A thick cloud of water vapor cleared from my eyes. I saw a rocky ceiling first. I looked around. Call me crazy, but I swore I then saw two elderly anthropomorphic birdlike creatures looking down upon me, and I swore they looked just like Old Bird and Gray Voice; the Chozo that raised Samus after the Space Pirates orphaned her. But that was impossible…right?

"Do not worry. You are alive. Samus Aran found the Metroid DNA that saved you," explained the short, fat one on the left, whom I was pretty sure was Old Bird.

I pushed myself up so that I sat upright. "Samus…saved me?" I groaned, testing my voice out. So I didn't die. This wasn't heaven.

My chances were absolute zero. But against all odds…I survived.

"Yeah. You and your friends. Those Zork, Zark, and Zoroark punks gave me no end of trouble, and I barely got out of there alive…but it was all worth it." There she was. Old Bird and Gray Voice moved aside to let Samus through. I noticed she was in her Zero Suit again.

"Oh! Ms. Aran! I didn't know…you were here…" I silently admonished myself for using her first name without her permission.

"You can call me Samus, kid."

Huh?

She sighed, pulled up a chair, and sat down in front of me, rubbing her temples and looking downcast. Maybe…?

"I have to apologize. You were right, kid. You were right all along. I don't know how the X Parasites ended up on Planet Portania, but…I shouldn't have abandoned you guys like that. So…I'm sorry. I swear, if there's any way I can make it up to you, I…"

I was too stunned to say anything. This was the first time she ever showed any sincere emotion like this to me. To me, someone she called a lazy civilian. What was going on in here? "It—it's okay, Samus, really, I—" I turned around to the two Chozo waking up Big Amy and Chikorita, and Celebi trying to wake up Grovyle. Celebi? "How did we get here? Why is Celebi here too? And those Chozo—by any chance, would they be Old Bird and Gray Voice?"

Samus looked up. "Yeah. Grandpa and Father. That's them, all right. We're on Planet Chozodia now. **How** we got here…now that's a long story."

Meanwhile, Big Amy struggled to blink her eyes open. I stretched myself, threw my legs out of the pod, and tentatively stood up. When I was certain I had my balance, I walked over.

"Uuugh…Little Amy?" she whispered.

"We're alive, Big Amy. We're alive."

"Did you see those orange blobby thingies?"

"Yeah, they were—"

We then heard Chikorita's voice come in. "Little Amy? Big Amy? You saw them too?"

I explained, "They were the X Parasites. They infect the nervous system and make an exact copy of their hosts. That's why there was that other me. She wasn't me at all. She was the Queen of the X Parasites, I think. I don't think there's supposed to be any chance of survival from an X Parasite attack…but Old Bird here says that Samus found some Metroid DNA and saved us."

They both stared. "Samus?" I didn't know if they were more surprised by the fact that she actually did save them, or the fact that I used her first name.

She sat down and apologized to them too, saying that they could also call her Samus. But while Big Amy and Chikorita managed to say that they forgave her too, I somehow felt that they couldn't be 100% sincere.

"So we have Metroid DNA now? What's it going to do to us?" asked Chikorita.

Gray Voice explained, "The most important benefit is that X Parasites will never be able to kill you again. In fact, you can now absorb them to replenish your energy. But! There are downsides. You will no longer be able to survive extreme heat or cold."

There was a long pause as we took it all in. Then Chikorita concluded as a matter-of-fact, "Oh. Well, it's not like it really matters. I mean, after all, Grovyle and I are Grass types! We were already weak to Fire and Ice-type attacks to begin with."

Big Amy and I groaned, though I wasn't sure if her reason was the same as mine. I wanted to build up heat resistance not only because of Global Warming (I mean, Weirding) but because heat was easier for me to take than cold. There went all my work, down the drain.

"What about me?"

My heart raced. Grovyle was awake. Celebi might've been shouting, "You're alive!" over and over again, but who knew how long it would be before he remembered how he was going to…? Uh-oh. I threw myself behind Gray Voice before Grovyle could catch a glimpse of me.

"Wait, was that her? Where'd she go? I'm gonna kill her for tricking us like that," he growled darkly. My heart lurched. I was right, as usual. Big Amy saw where I went and was about to say something, but I furiously shook my head and held an index finger in front of my mouth, hoping that she'd get the message.

She didn't. "Little Amy? What the heck are you doing?"

"YOU!" he shouted, leaping high into the air above Gray Voice and somehow managing to not bonk his head on the ceiling.

All I could shout was "AAAH!" and barely dodged out of the way as his Leaf Blades smashed into the ground where I was 0.1 seconds ago. I burst out the door and ran for my life down the rocky streets, barely having time to notice the beautiful scenery of the village. He ran in hot pursuit, and Samus, Big Amy, Chikorita, and Celebi followed after, trying to stop him. I only had time to pick random directions and dodge the Chozo and other sentient alien creatures along the way, shouting, "Look out! Coming through!"

I heard the beeping of Samus' Power Suit being turned on, the flash of her Ice Beam, and a few other scuffling sounds, but I didn't dare look back. Grovyle could catch up to me any second, and if an Ice Beam hit me instead…! I ran and ran through the whole village, and when I reached its exit into the vague forest-like surroundings, I ran even faster, knowing that Grovyle could catch up to me even faster in a forest.

* * *

_Samus' Ice Beam barely misses Grovyle, but manages to freeze his tail leaves in place, sticking him to the ground. He howls in pain since his new Metroid DNA doubles his weakness against Ice attacks to 4 times the normal damage._

Amy: Grovyle! Why the heck are you trying to kill her? She's innocent!

Grovyle: "Innocent" my eye! She crushed you two with her bare arms!

Amy and Chikorita (really confused): Huh?

Grovyle: You forgot? That Amy [you know who] was Queen X, remember? She—

Samus: Whoa whoa whoa. Queen X? HER? That girl has Metroid DNA now, and I personally saw to that. No X Parasite can survive with Metroid DNA. Besides, Queen X is all the way out there somewhere.

_She points out into outer space._

Samus: And I should know—I just ran into her. Or at least her three loyal followers.

_And just like that, all his anger suddenly deflates out of him._

Grovyle: Say wha…?

Chikorita: Oh wait, you thought **she** was Queen X?

Grovyle: Uh…

Amy: Oh yeah! Queen X was the one who attacked Little Amy! Hey Samus, Queen X can perfectly transform into anyone she attacks, right?

Samus: Correct.

Amy: Then that means…

Chikorita: She can copy us too…!

Amy: And that evil lady wasn't really Little Amy from the future! She was Queen X!

_Grovyle becomes completely paralyzed with shock and guilt._

Grovyle: …She…WAS…innocent...

Celebi: Yeah. You really messed up big time, Grovyle.

Old Bird: Children!

_Old Bird and Gray Voice finally catch up to them. By this point, many Chozo bystanders have already stopped what they were doing and stare at them._

Samus: Grandpa. Father. We've got a problem.

Old Bird: I—I know…*huff*…your friend…*wheeze*…

Gray Voice: She's headed into Torgus Forest outside! Th—that way!

Amy, Chikorita, Grovyle, Samus, and Celebi: WHAT?

Amy: Let's go—!

Old Bird: Wait.

_He pounds his walking stick on her head to stop her, and then turns to Grovyle._

Old Bird: You now realize the truth, do you not?

Grovyle: Yeah…What was up with that, though? I mean, why'd she run away? She wouldn't run away if she were innocent…right?

Old Bird: *sigh*…Human beings are very fragile creatures, Grovyle. You, of all Pokémon, should know that. And this is especially so for Amy [you know who]. Do you know why she intentionally deceived you? Because she was afraid that you would react like so. By reacting the way you did, you have just made her worst fear come true.

Gray Voice: We can heal physical wounds, but never mental ones. Only you, Grovyle, can cure her. You must be sincere in your apology and prove to her that you are truly sorry. Any less than your best effort, and you will fail, and if you fail to gain her forgiveness and bring her back, she **will** be scarred for life.

Grovyle (thinking hard): … … … (I remember…I almost killed Team Pecha too. Before I found out who Amy Vee Purima really was. **Why?** Why does this keep happening to me? Am I doomed to repeat the same mistake…twice?)

Amy and Chikorita: Pleeeeeease?

Grovyle: …Okay. I'll go. I have no choice.

_He runs off into the forest._

Celebi: Be careful, Grovyle… (Please be safe…)

* * *

It was already afternoon, maybe even evening on Planet Chozodia, but the thick trees of the forest blocked out the sun's rays and made it seem even darker. I kept tripping over roots and rocks and crashing into tree branches and swarms of tiny little alien insects, but I didn't stop. Not when HE could catch up to me at any moment.

"Wait!"

That was his voice. I sped up even more despite the stitch cramp that was suddenly growing in my side.

"Wait up!"

Yeah, right. Stop for him to kill me? Not likely.

"I didn't know who you really were! I'm sorry!"

What was he talking about?

"That wasn't really me back there! I'm sorry I thought you were Queen X!"

I skidded to a halt, stunned. "You know Queen X?" I asked.

WHAM! He crashed into me, and we tumbled down a sudden slope. Ow ow ow ow ow. The pain! The pain! It was like being in a barrel roll, but with dead leaves and twigs. But I suddenly realized it was probably a trick. Maybe he shouted that line on purpose. Maybe it was his trap to kill me. I couldn't take any chances. As soon as we crashed on the bottom of the slope, I scrambled to my feet and took off running again.

"Where are you going?" he shouted after me.

"Away from you, you murderer!" I shouted back.

I heard him stop for a second, and then I heard him leap to the tree branches at the top. Aw, man. Now he would slash me from above where I couldn't see him. Either the Leaf Blade, or worse, the Guillotine. I was so screwed.

"That was just a reflex, I swear! Seriously, I didn't expect that you actually **wrote** everything that happened to us! It was a stupid thing to kill you for!"

**Now** he tells me? Before I could respond, he slashed at me from behind and pinned me to the ground. At least, I thought it was him, until I heard a deep, rumbling growl from behind my head and saw drool splatter down next to my face. Gross!

"HEY! Leave her ALONE!" shouted Grovyle. Then the creature behind me was kicked off me and into a tree. I scrambled to my feet and saw him fighting a beast three times his size. The creature was a four-legged canine beast with gray pale, translucent flesh, three long, hooked claws on each leg, a mouthful of sharp teeth dripping with some kind of purple ooze, and no eyes. It looked like a combination of a Vulpimancer from Ben 10 and some vague alien from one of the Metroid Prime games; only I wasn't sure which one. And this whole scene reminded me of something...was it from that Disney movie, Beauty and the Beast, or what...?

Grovyle tore at the beast, taking it down in several Leaf Blade strikes. But it was all a diversion, because right then, from behind me, at least two more of the beasts tackled me, pinning me to the ground, and this time, one of them chomped onto my right arm.

"AAAAAAGH!" I shouted. The pain was intense, and burned like a fire. I was sure I would die horribly in the next two seconds, but ten seconds passed, and nothing happened. What were they waiting for?

I opened my eyes. Turned out that Grovyle managed to take on the whole lot at once. His lightning-fast reflexes and agility allowed him to dodge the beasts, and his super-accurate Leaf Blades hit them all in their weak points. Before long, all ten (!) of those beasts were finished. I stared in amazement and disbelief. Did Grovyle…just save me? Did he really…have a change of heart?

He turned to face me. I gasped. His eyes had a fierce, sharp, lizard-like glow in them, almost like when Guilmon smelled another enemy Digimon nearby, only worse. Much worse. I staggered back, away from him. It was way worse than the time he wanted me to look at him when he was talking. I panicked, and ran away, my arm throbbing the whole time. Why didn't the pain ever go away?

As I ran, I admonished myself. I couldn't believe I ever looked up to him. How could I be so naïve? Did I really think I could gain his trust? THE super-famous misunderstood hero Grovyle's trust? I was an idiot. He hated me from the start. I would never, ever, in a million years, ever be friends with him, no matter how badly I wanted to.

* * *

_Dark-blue thunderclouds quickly form on the horizon as the sun sets. A few drops of rain fall. Suddenly, an alarm blares all around the Chozo village._

Amy: AAAH!

Chikorita (panicking): What is it? What's that sound?

Old Bird: It is the weather alarm. See the sky? A flash thunderstorm is coming in.

Amy (also panicking): A flash **thunderstorm?** Wh—when will it come?

Gray Voice: Flash thunderstorms come within five minutes. And once they come…they last for eight hours, and in this case, the whole night. Follow us.

_Team Pecha, Celebi, and Samus follow Old Bird and Gray Voice back home. Right when they close the door, Amy sees, through the window, a blue-green translucent dome suddenly rise from a hidden underground ring surrounding the village._

Chikorita: WAAH! What IS that?

Old Bird: That is our Weather Shield. Flash thunderstorms harbor winds up to 350 miles per hour, which would completely destroy our homes. We can only afford to let a few raindrops through, and keep the rest of the storm out.

Amy: Will Little Amy and Grovyle…be able to walk through that thing?

Gray Voice (suddenly grave): …No. No one comes in or out when our Weather Shield is up.

Amy (dismayed): No…no…!

_The two of them start crying hopelessly._

Old Bird: Do not be afraid, children. I am sure that whatever happens, they will be fine.

Samus: I can't go through either, can I?

Gray Voice: I am afraid not, Samus.

Samus (sarcastically): …Joy.

_Samus turns off her Power Suit, goes upstairs, chooses the bed on the right in the guest bedroom (there are three beds total), and conks out. Adam goes into sleep mode outside._

Old Bird: How about going to bed upstairs, children? I am sure you will see them in the morning.

Amy and Chikorita (wiping their tears away): O—Okay…

Celebi: I'm not tired at all…but fine.

_Amy and Chikorita also find the guest bedroom and pick a bed next to the window. Since the bed is big enough for a human 8 feet tall, they both get on. Celebi picks the middle bed. They try to sleep, but constant worrying keeps them awake until they can finally conk out too. Finally, just Old Bird and Gray Voice are left awake downstairs. The two elders then discuss things._

Gray Voice: …Old Bird? How do you know that the girl and the boy—no, the young man—will survive? You do know that if the girl dies...the whole universe will die too, and this time, there will be nothing we can do.

Old Bird: I have faith in the young man's character. Just one look in his eyes before he left…and I could tell that he would protect the girl no matter what.

Gray Voice: …You have always been a good judge of character, Old Bird. Very well. I trust you. After all, you were correct about the newborn, too.

Old Bird: Yes, Gray Voice. I know that, just as Samus Aran will one day bring our civilization back…those two will survive the night. No matter what happens.

_He holds a tablet with a drawing on it that looks like a 3-year-old scribbled on it, and silently vows to give it back to Samus in the morning._

_

* * *

_

I kept on running, even as it became darker and darker. The agonizing pain in my right arm wouldn't go away. In fact, I could swear it was getting worse. I was beginning to feel more and more faint. Several times, I stumbled when I clearly shouldn't have. I could feel my strength rapidly draining away. At least it wasn't my writing arm. But I couldn't help get paranoid that it was just like a Flamethrower from a Houndoom; once it burns you, the pain would **never** go away. But that was physically impossible…right?

Furthermore, I haven't heard Grovyle all this time. Maybe the battle wore him out so much that he could no longer catch up. Good for me. I didn't want to be anywhere near Homicidal Man. Once again, I crashed into a tree that I couldn't see because of the darkness, and I had to slow down so it wouldn't happen again. I then began to realize that I was completely, totally, and in all ways, lost. How could I get back to the Chozo village? What the heck was I thinking? I looked up at the sky. It shouldn't have gotten so dark so fast. I had my answer. A mass of intimidating dark-blue clouds was gathering all over the sky, blocking out what little was left of the sunset. A clap of thunder made me jump. I began to panic as the enormity of the situation took hold of me.

I was lost in the middle of a thick forest on an alien planet in the middle of nowhere in the dead of night with a burning pain in my right arm that was getting worse by the minute, and a massive alien thunderstorm was coming my way.

"Jeez! Finally, you slow down!"

I sprinted again as I remembered why I undertook this insane venture in the first place: to get the heck away from Homicidal Man.

"Wait, wait! I just want to be friends again, I swear!"

I turned around and snapped at him, gritting my teeth. "My dad always told me that a true friend who really cared about me would never try to kill me, you murderer! NEVER!" That was true. I once ended up getting so mad I merely hit my brother once, and my mom and dad practically exploded at me. It was a truth my whole family taught me, one that I would never forget.

I thought I saw a pained look on his face, but I immediately turned around and ran even faster.

Hours passed. Or at least it felt like hours. It was probably only 30 minutes. But by then, I couldn't hear Grovyle anymore again, so I slowed down. The rain was soaking me. Another clap of thunder sounded, this time much closer. And a bolt of massive purple lightning split the sky, crashing somewhere close by. I jumped. The pain was even worse than before. Finally, drained of energy, I couldn't take it anymore. I quickly located a tiny cave underneath a side in a hill and crawled in. I tried to put pressure on my arm to relieve the pain, but it didn't work at all.

In the minutes that passed, several bolts of purple lightning illuminated the forest, and I swear some landed even closer. My heart raced. I shivered. I'll admit it; one of my worst fears ever was a bolt of lightning skewering me. Hopefully, this cover was enough, but I suspected that the lightning actually jumped and bounced around upon impact. Maybe one would get lucky, and…

"There you are! No wonder I couldn't find you!"

I gritted my teeth. Great. Just great. If it wasn't electrocution, it had to be Homicidal Man. Stupid alien purple lightning like from Pokémon Mystery Dungeon. He must've found me from its illumination. I was a sitting duck here. Trapped in this little alcove, scared by the storm, wracked with excruciating burning pain, and almost out of energy, I was easy prey. One slash and that would be it. I heard his footsteps approach. I shut my eyes.

I felt him pull my burning arm up. He wanted to start with the one that hurt the most, huh? I tensed even more, which in retrospect was probably a bad idea since tense muscles snap more easily, and therefore equaling more pain. But I didn't care. I was too scared.

He gasped. "You're poisoned! Why didn't you tell me?" Oh, so** that's** what it was. Poisoning. I've never been poisoned before, so no wonder I didn't know. And even if I did, I wouldn't tell Homicidal Man here.

"You're still alive, right? Hang in there! Eat this!" Letting my arm drop to the ground, he pried my jaws open and shoved something in my mouth. I kept trying to spit it out, convinced it was a poisonous mushroom or something, but he finally shoved it in far enough for me to taste the flavor.

It was sweet.

Really sweet.

So sweet, in fact, that I couldn't chew and swallow it fast enough. I finally snapped my eyes open and said, "That was **great!** What was that?"

He sighed in relief. "A Pecha Berry. Amy Vee Purima loved these. Want some more?" He held up another.

"Yeah yeah yeah!" I scrambled up and ate them all. So good! They were way better than any strawberry cake with strawberry icing and chocolate chip cookies with 1% milk AND cookies-and-cream ice cream I ever tasted combined, and considering how they were my most favorite foods in the whole world, that really said something! It suddenly occurred to me that I was already this far into the adventure and yet I'd never eaten a single Pecha Berry before. I then remembered why I didn't try one.

"Wait, Grovyle. Aren't Pecha Berries Pokémon food only?"

He placed a claw on my forehead. "Judging by how your fever's going down, I'd say it's working for you too."

Fever?

I had a fever?

I was flabbergasted. He knew I had a fever…and tried to cure it? "I don't get it…Why are you helping me all of a sudden? I thought you were going to kill me. Literally."

"I thought I told you. I found that none of this was your fault. It was all mine. Of course I'd save your life. Look, I'm really sorry I tried to kill you. It was wrong." He sighed. "If there's anything I can do to make it up to you, I swear…name it."

My mind froze. Conflict raged in my head. He said the exact same thing as Samus. "I…I don't know. I really want to forgive you. I really do…but…somehow, I can't…" Tears came to my eyes. I really did want to forgive him, but my personal moral code was stronger. How could anyone who tried to kill me **ever** be called a friend?

Suddenly, a flash of purple lightning blasted the ground in front of us, and the resulting clap of lightning blasted our eardrums. I shouted in dismay and curled into a ball.

He asked me, "What's wrong? It's just thunder and lightning."

"I—I—I can't **stand** it…" I whimpered. "Don't let it hit me! PLEASE!"

Some sort of recognition flashed across his face. He looked up, glared with a kind of determination, and stepped out. The flashes of lightning created a stark, albeit heroic, chiaroscuro look to him; very much like that famous scene when I saw him for the first time in my Explorers of Time game. (I think it was at the end of Chapter 3: The Scream.) He then shouted right at the wind and rain, "So it's you and me again, huh? Well? Well? Bring it on! What more can you take from me? How could you possibly drive me any lower? C'mon! Give me your best shot, you stupid force of nature! You can take away everything that ever mattered to me, but you will NEVER hurt her so long as I live! You hear me? NEVER!"

I remembered hearing a few similar lines from The Incredibles, but the true significance of his declaration to the storm hit me when I realized that he was also referring to the fateful day that the storm at sea tore him and Amy Purima apart. That girl lost her memories, and their friendship was never the same again.

Just then, the most powerful bolt of purple lightning emerged from the sky and hit Grovyle straight on. "GWWWAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" he shouted in absolute anguish. The intense heat from the lightning washed over me like a furnace. In that moment, I remembered that it was exactly like the time Dusknoir lured Grovyle into the Icicle Forest to zap him with this type of electricity that could melt his soul away. The sight of the torture lasted for several seconds, almost permanently frying the image in my head. I realized that could've been me…and if it was me, I would've surely died…but he took the blast for me instead.

And in that moment, in the midst of all three of those memories from the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games, I realized that Grovyle really did undergo a complete 180-degree turnaround in his personality.

Thankfully for me, I didn't have to push him out. It ended just like that. "Grovyle!" I shouted, quickly dragging him back inside. "Are you okay? Say something! Please!"

He managed to crack an eye open. "I'm supposed to be the one…protecting…you…" he choked out. Amazingly, he then staggered back up and faced the outside again. "We'll get through this. I won't let this storm hurt you like it hurt me, if it's the last thing I do! I promise I'll always protect you…I promise I'll never hurt you again…Amy! I promise!"

At that exact moment, my heart leapt with joy higher than any other time in my whole entire life. All because of one simple fact. He called me "Amy"—by my real name—for the very first time.

* * *

_Old Bird plays a mysterious instrument. It's an ocarina; only it makes a sound that can only be heard in dreams. Gray Voice hums an ancient Chozo lullaby that surprisingly sounds like the song You'll Be In My Heart by Phil Collins. It translates to something like this:_

[Come stop your crying, it will be all right  
Just take my hand, hold it tight  
I will protect you from all around you  
I will be here, don't you cry]

Samus: (*sigh*…It's been so long…since I've last heard this. Thanks, Father…)

Chikorita: (This is the most beautiful song I've ever heard!)

Amy: (I wish I could sing something like this someday!)

_Apparently, it was a song that they played all the time when Samus lived with them a long time ago. It calms everyone who hears it, including a certain person deep in the forest in the midst of the storm._

[For one so small, you seem so strong  
My arms will hold you, keep you safe and warm  
This bond between us can't be broken  
I will be here, don't you cry]

Me: (I know this song! Is this a dream? Either way…I hope it never ends…)

_Old Bird and Gray Voice sense that Samus, Chikorita, and both Amys have all completely relaxed, and so prepare to end their song._

['Cause you'll be in my heart  
Yes, you'll be in my heart  
From this day on  
Now and forever more  
You'll be in my heart  
No matter what they say  
You'll be here in my heart…always]

* * *

The next thing I knew when I opened my eyes was that the storm had passed. No wind, rain, thunder, or lightning. I tried pushing myself up, but couldn't. I thought back to my dream with that song from Tarzan. But I didn't think it was a normal dream. The song felt so real. So real, that it completely relaxed my nerves. And nothing could make my nerves relax after lighting struck that close. I was tempted to fall back asleep, but then I felt a mysterious weight on my back, pinning me down.

It was Grovyle.

My efforts to get up must've startled him awake. I reassured him, "The storm's over, Grovyle. We can go back."

"Wha—huh? Oh yeah, I knew that. I stayed awake the whole time until it was over. Really long storm. Must've been about six hours or so."

My jaw dropped. "You stayed awake the whole time?" True, I couldn't fall asleep with loud thunder nor this sticky lumpy moss bed, but it lasted so long, and the thunderstorm quieted down, so I eventually had to.

He slid off and stepped outside. It was still dark, but a little lighter than usual. "Yeah. C'mon. How do you feel?"

I sat up, crawled outside, stood up, and suddenly had to clutch my head. "A little weird…but nothing I can't—OW!" The bite wound on my right arm suddenly ruptured and emitted a shot of pain across my side, making me collapse onto the forest floor.

"Gotcha." He then picked me up, and I almost yelped in surprise. "Let's go."

"Wha—!" Before I could argue, he charged and sped us through the forest now wet with dewdrops and saturated with new humidity. I was more speechless by his strength. How much did this guy weigh, only 48 pounds? Yet he had to have the strength to carry stuff at least 2.5 his weight to lift me, and judging by how fast he still was, I suspected he could bench-press up to 10 times his own weight. Jeez, did this guy really lift weights or something in his spare time? And if he could carry me this easily, how come he once complained that Chikorita was too heavy? Maybe he didn't trust her very much back then…but still!

Once again, I was experiencing another Tarzan-esque ride. There were several times when he threw me into the air, and I was scared stiff that he wouldn't catch me, but he always did. I admired the guy. He really did have mad skills. No wonder Big Amy and Chikorita had so much fun with him.

Speaking of Tarzan, I also realized that elements from the movie were a common theme along my friends. Both Amy Purima and Samus' parents had been brutally murdered, leaving them the last of their kind, just like Tarzan. Both of them ended up becoming kick-butt fighter girls who eventually managed to defeat the original murderers, just like Tarzan. And…well, Chikorita and Grovyle were Grass-types who could navigate a jungle expertly, just like Tarzan. But most importantly was the sense of family and friendship that they'll never give up searching for…and neither will I. I thought about that kind of stuff along the whole ride.

Finally, he tired out and had to slow down. I suggested that I could walk, but he insisted that he continued carrying me simply because 1) he already knew the way back, 2) we weren't far, and 3) I was so dead tired, it wasn't even funny. The sky began to lighten in the east, just like on Planet Earth…and Portania, for that matter. "Look, Grovyle!" I pointed. "It's the sunrise!"

The beauty of the sun, so familiar, yet so new on this alien planet, never ceased to take our breaths away. How long had it been since I last seen a sunrise? We were in the dark future—I mean, Big Amy's memories—for so long, I was beginning to forget.

"I never, EVER took the sunrise for granted. Not one day in two years," he whispered. Looking into his eyes as they gazed into the distance, I realized right then that he meant way more than that. I was right. He never did get over his heartbreak for Team Pecha. That's why he never took it for granted—**because it always reminded him of them.** On one hand, I was delighted to find that I could finally make an AP English-level analysis on something someone said, yet on the other hand, I was mad at myself for taking that long to figure it out. He then interrupted my thoughts with a question. "What about you, Amy? Are sunrises on your planet the same as ours?"

"They're the same…but different, too," I explained.

"Different? How?"

"Well, on Planet Earth, the sun always rises in the east. Every day. Always, always, always. No matter what happens, no matter what you do, it will always rise in the east, guaranteed. See, back on Earth, it was **impossible** for the planet to be paralyzed. There were no Time Gears, nor a Temporal Tower. So almost everyone takes it for granted."

"I see…But a lot of Pokémon take it for granted too."

"But that was exactly **why **I loved your story. Even if it was a game, Grovyle, you taught me how things such as this sunrise, things that we take for granted, were among the most precious. I always wished I could write a sci-fi story like that. Because it made us Earthlings realize how precious the sunrise was in a way that wouldn't ever be possible on Earth. It made me look at the world so differently. See, to me, that's what sci-fi is all about—utilizing alien planets in order to for you look at your life in a way you wouldn't otherwise."

"Huh. You have an interesting way of looking at the world, Amy. I don't think I've ever met anyone who thought like that. Ever."

I had to explain what sci-fi was to him, of course. After that, we didn't say anything else for a long time. I was too busy turning the events of the past few days over and over in my mind. Finally, I had to ask, "You know, Grovyle, I've known you from TV shows and video games—I've even **written **about you!—but I'm still not sure if I really **get** you. Why was it that you hated me so much before, and now suddenly you don't?"

He thought for a moment before explaining. "You know…When I first saw you, I actually did want to get to know you better. I mean, come on! You were the first new human I've ever seen in…forever. But when I found out how much you were just like Amy Purima..." He sighed. "I guess I was disappointed that humans weren't as different from each other as I remembered them being. And when you seemed to know way more than you were letting on…well, then, I was worried you'd be another Dusknoir. Amy and Chikorita told me how much he hurt them, so I didn't want the same thing happening to us again. But at the same time, I didn't sense anything fake from you. Your kindness was real. I was so confused. I ended up following my cautious instincts, and pushed you away…If only I'd known that was what Queen X wanted me to do…and when Samus told me you were innocent all this time, I…I just wanted…to be…!"

Was he trying to blink away his tears? "I'm sorry. I have to be strong," he whispered to himself.

I quickly interjected, "Oh no! Don't be afraid of crying, Grovyle. There's no one here. Personally, I've always believed that those who cry their feelings out...are the ones who are the strongest on the inside. The people who say crying is for babies and wimps…**they're wrong**. They're the ones who're really not that strong."

With that, he unleashed everything he'd been bottling up, and yet he still managed to continue holding me up. "I get it now. I was wrong all along. You and Amy Purima are one and the same. You might be absurdly weak in battle…but you're a good person at heart. There's no way you could ever betray us. No matter how much suffering you might've put us through in your writing…you saw to it that we could all live happily ever after. I'm glad to have met you too, Amy. Can you…ever forgive me?"

I don't think Grovyle ever cried in his life before. Ever. Seeing him like this…it provided the proof for me that, once and for all, he would uphold his promise. He said he would never ever hurt me again. And this time, I finally believed him.

"…Yes, Grovyle. It took a long, long time…but I forgive you." It was too much. I started crying too

We watched the sun's rays peek through the trees, and I felt a weight lift off my shoulders. After my tears dried up, I sighed, took in a deep breath, and closed my eyes. Never, ever, in my wildest dreams, did I imagine I would live through a moment this magical in my life.

* * *

_Old Bird shakes Samus awake upstairs._

Old Bird: Samus? Samus?

Samus: Wha—huh? Grandpa, what is it?

Old Bird: Here. Take this.

_He hands her a stone tablet with a picture drawn in crayon. It's a picture of a little girl, two bird-creatures, and the sun in the upper-left-hand corner._

Samus: …! (This is…!)

Old Bird: Remember?

Samus: Yeah…It was so long ago...

Old Bird: You see? You and the girl are not so different after all. If you want to prove your sincerity to them, then maybe…just maybe…

_He looks to Amy and Chikorita for emphasis, and Samus instantly understands. At this point, they also wake up from the noise._

Chikorita: Uugh…Wha—what's going on?

_Samus and Old Bird walk right up to them and sit on the edge of their bed._

Samus: Puffball Girl—I mean, Amy Purima? Look.

Amy: Uugh…What IS that?

Samus: I drew it when Grandpa and Father took me to Planet Zebes for the first time. I was 3 years old.

Amy: …?

_She takes the picture, blinks a few times, and then gasps as she realizes what it meant._

Amy (feeling bowled over): …! Samus, does this mean you…you…?

Samus: Yes. **I was an artist too.**

_No more words need to be spoken. With that, they all hug each other and finally sincerely forgive Samus. Soon after that, they watch out the window as the Weather Shield deactivates and shrinks back into the ground. They then run to the edge of town to find Grovyle and the other Amy._

_

* * *

_

Finally, we arrived at the Chozo village. Old Bird, Gray Voice, and Samus all watched in contentment while Big Amy and Chikorita rushed up to meet me and leaped into my outstretched arms, overflowing with tears of joy and relief. Then Grovyle performed the final amazing thing. He put me down and hugged us all at the same time.

My chances were absolute zero. But against all odds…I had gained Grovyle's unconditional trust.

Forever.

To be continued…

**Coming up next: Old Bird, Gray Voice, and the rest of the Chozo people welcome us into their warm, close-knit community. We meet a legendary Ylla for the first time, and learn how Planet Portania got its name. In fact, we learn everything, from Queen X's dastardly plan…to a surprising, mind-blowing truth behind my existence in this universe. What is it? Find out next time, in **Answers, Part 1 of 2**!**


	19. Answers, Part 1 of 2

Chapter 19: Answers, Part 1 of 2

"Groooovyyyle!" growled an oddly familiar voice dripping with jealousy.

We turned around. I groaned. It was shiny pink Celebi, flying towards us and telekinetically shoving Old Bird, Gray Voice, and Samus out of her way. Now how did I forget about her?

Grovyle groaned too, and slapped his face. "Here we go again…" he muttered under his breath. Big Amy and Chikorita looked worried, probably because they were never used to seeing Celebi like this.

She flew right up in Grovyle's face and accused, "You weren't…cheating on me again, were you?"

All he could utter was, "Uh…what are you talking about?"

"Wait, wait—you guys were playing hide-and-seek out there?" asked Chikorita

"And he cheated? Why didn't you get him to stop, Little Amy?" added Big Amy.

"Wow, Celebi! You ARE psychic!" exclaimed Chikorita in awe.

Celebi stifled laughter. Grovyle turned around and pretended to slink away while he could. I also stifled laughter, but I felt queasy inside too, almost as if I knew what was coming. She flew down to their general height and spoke, in an unusually sweet voice, "Why girls, I believe you are mistaken. Cheating is when a man—"

"Whoa whoa WHOA, shut up!" I clamped my hands around Celebi's mouth, hard. But it didn't take long for her to blast free of my grip with psychokinetic energy.

"Ah-HAH! So you ARE guilty!" she shouted in triumph.

"WHAT?" I practically exploded. "I only stopped you because what you were about to say comes from lesson five of that insane How to Be Human book! And what was that supposed to mean, anyway?"

Big Amy gasped and promptly pulled her ears down so she couldn't hear anything else. She also pretended to slink away in the general direction that Grovyle was going. Chikorita just stared in confusion.

"I meant that I knew what you were—"

"It was a REHITORICAL QUESTION! You are NOT dragging romance into my life, okay? You hear me? NO romance!"

Big Amy stopped. She turned around and asked me "You hate romance too, Little Amy?" Chikorita looked at me with the same kind of awestruck expression on her face.

My voice calmed down to a reasonable volume. "Hate it? Oh, I **despise** it."

Celebi's eyes narrowed and a weird smile crept on her face. I gulped. Why did I have to make her so darned prone to jealously AND give her a penchant for romance? "Really…? In that case, I'll have to enlighten you, human." She charged up a weird-looking ball of energy on her finger.

"Wha—wait—hold on—" I stammered, backing up as fast as I could. But she was faster. Quick as a flash, she launched the energy ball and shouted, "Ala-kablooie!'

Ala-kablooie?

Nothing happened.

She glared at the ball of energy on her finger and muttered, "Maybe I didn't do this right…" then shouted, "Ala-kablooie!" again.

Still nothing happened. The spell or whatever it was passed through me unharmed. Then she went ballistic. "Ala-kablooie Ala-kablooie Ala-kablooie [etc, etc…]"

"Run for it!" I shouted, picking Big Amy up again. Chikorita and Grovyle didn't need to be told twice. We dashed passed a really confused Samus Aran and through the village, trying to dodge Celebi's insane Harry Potter/Lilo and Stitch/whatever spells she was throwing at us, because the odds were sensational that one—just one—might actually do something to me. My mind was freaking out. Since when did Celebi—or any Pokémon, for that matter—actually learn how to do magic? Furthermore, wasn't Ala-kablooie a nonsense word that was actually a cue for Houdini a.k.a. Experiment 604 to blink his eyes and make stuff disappear? These crazy crossovers were getting freakier and freakier by the second.

And then it finally happened.

One of Celebi's blasts hit Big Amy. I don't know how it did; maybe it bounced off of one of those Chozo mirrors behind us or something, but it hit. The sudden weight increase pulled me straight into the ground. We were sprawled in a heap, right in front of Old Bird and Gray Voice's house.

Yeah. Big Amy turned back into her 10-year-old original human self, complete with brilliant green eyes, pink hair, and my uber-unique designer outfit I worked so hard to create.

"AAAAAAAAH!" First it was her, then Chikorita, and finally, me. Their shouting really was contagious.

Suddenly, I heard Adam say, from the orange ship, "Wait a second. So crazy alien pixie girl was the one who messed up that DNA restoration device?"

She replied, "Oh yeah! I wanted to make sure that Amy didn't get in the way, so I turned her—D'oh! I'm an idiot. I've been casting the wrong kind of spell all along. Wait a second. You're a talking spaceship? Who the heck are you?"

I scrambled to connect the dots. "Whoa whoa whoa, time out. That Omnitrix thingy was supposed to permanently turn her into a human, but so was Celebi's spell, right? Celebi, that **was **you! I heard you say Ala-kablooie right when that Omnitrix thingy worked. So, your spell must've messed with that device…causing Big Amy to turn back into a Jigglypuff whenever she wants!"

The five of them, Celebi, Big Amy, Chikorita, Grovyle, and Adam all stared at me in awe.

"Whoa…" said Grovyle.

"You're good, Little Amy!" exclaimed Chikorita.

"Hmm…I can turn back into a human whenever I want, huh?" asked Big Amy.

Right then, Samus, Old Bird, and Gray Voice finally caught up to us, and then stopped when they saw the odd state we were in. Samus pointed at Big Amy and tried to say something, but whatever it was could never seem to leave her mouth. Maybe she was flabbergasted as to when and how this Jigglypuff to human transformation was actually possible.

Adam piped up, "Wait, wait! Guys, I just got an idea! It's genius! Hey Lady, why don't you and both Amy's stand in front of this wall?"

"Huh…?" Completely confused, we did what he said anyway. "No wait, why don't you stand from shortest to tallest? Amy [you know who] should be in the middle. Amy Purima, move to the left, and Lady, move to the right. There! Everyone stand up straight, okay?"

Were we doing a police lineup or something? It sounded like he wanted us to pose for a picture. Chikorita and Grovyle looked confused.

"Okay, girls, ready? Three…two…one…Say 'cheese'!"

So it was a picture. Good thing I smiled. He printed the photo out, and let me look at the picture he took of us. When I saw it, I shouted in shock, "AAAAAAAAH!"

Samus (still in her Zero Suit) was on the right, I was on the left, and Amy Purima was in the middle. The difference in our heights was amazing. Amy was 4'3'', I was 5'5'', and Samus was 6'3''. In other words, I was exactly between them in height. I guess that's what Adam wanted to capture, because he added light green height lines complete with those numbers to the picture. Finally, I couldn't help but notice that this picture could easily be used in a health textbook or something. I mean, Amy was a child, I was a teenager, and Samus was an adult. All that was missing was a baby, an old lady, and maybe many more. What an odd thought.

But that wasn't what nearly gave me a heart attack. What nearly gave me a heart attack was the fact that I somehow failed to notice how much of a disaster area I looked. My outfit was littered with rips and gashes, stained with dark-red…yuck…and soaked with rainwater to the point of having a slightly greenish hue. My hair was even worse; it was soaked with the aforementioned liquids and scattered all over the place. In fact, it was so short and so much like a rat's nest that it looked like a certain someone went to town on it with a shredder (Yes, Grovyle, I'm looking at you). The Vulpimancer-creature's bite marks and the resulting poisoning left nasty gashes and purplish welts all along my right arm. As for my face, no, the rest of my body…Don't ask.

I understood that people in third-world countries and dystopian societies were probably used to practically mutilated sights like me every day. But I didn't come from said countries/societies. I've lived in turn-of-the-21st century Virginia almost all my life, where it was expected that everyone look clean and presentable every day.

So for the very first time in my whole entire life, I fainted on the spot. I suspected that anemia from blood loss and hypothermia from the rain also played a role, but…really. Could you blame me?

And I wondered if my friends were being polite to never point it out to me...

* * *

"Grovyle?"

"Yeah?"

"I know you wanted to make it up to me somehow, but…"

"But what?"

"You DO know that the average human head has, like, 100,000 strands of hair?"

He paused. "Wait, what?"

"Judging by how it's taking you 60 seconds and counting to tie just one strand, I'd say—"

Finally, he threw his arms up and groaned in frustration, "GAH!"

Apparently, he felt bad about cutting all of my hair in half (which was actually Amy Purima's original excess hair, if you understand what it's symbolizing here), so now he was trying to tie all 100,000 hairs back. Needless to say, his claws were too clumsy to get the job done.

Let me recap for a second. Old Bird and Gray Voice had lots and lots of fellow Chozo neighbors who were gracious enough to heal all of our injuries. I wasn't exactly sure what it entailed, because I was unconscious the whole time. But I have to admit they did an excellent job. Looking into a Chozo mirror (which exactly the same as a normal human mirror, only if you kick at, say, the reflection of your thigh in the mirror, you feel the full impact of the kick on your real thigh for some freaky reason), I found to my relief that I looked perfectly fine again.

By now the resident Chozo woman named Shining Flame walked in. She almost burst out laughing when she saw what Grovyle was trying to do. "Oh no, young man…" she guffawed. "I have a much more efficient device for the job." She opened a cabinet underneath the sink and pulled out a familiar-looking device.

"Hey, isn't that…that haircut thingy from Gaijin City?" I asked.

"Oh, you recognize this?" she remarked.

So it **was** a hair-attaching machine. It worked just as perfectly as the first one. With that settled, Grovyle then looked for something else to make up to me and tried to fix the rips in my outfit. Shining Flame laughed again and brought out another device that looked like a gun-shaped sewing machine that could somehow sew stuff without piercing my skin below. I honestly wondered where they got all this awesome stuff, but didn't complain. How could I?

Finally, I was presentable enough for Adam to take another picture of the three of us. After he printed out three copies, Big Amy turned back into her Jigglypuff form, apparently having figured out that all she had to do was THINK about turning back into a Jigglypuff, and voila, it worked. She and Samus both had copies of the picture.

By the time that was over, one of the Chozo (I guessed the village elder) stepped forward and said to Old Bird, "How would your guests like to join us tonight for our official welcoming festival?" We agreed, mostly because Big Amy and Chikorita and I assumed that by "festival" they meant, "by definition, it has singing and dancing in it too."

The Chozo then led us on a tour of their village. From the outside, it was a quaint little unassuming village at the base of a mountain in the middle of a sprawling forest. The huts were made of a surprisingly sturdy type of rock that melded well with the natural environment, and their heights varied depending on whether they were residential areas or public service buildings. But whenever they would take us inside any building, the technological level jumped to futuristic proportions. They had floating hologram monitors, auto sterilization sprays for walls and floors, and even their own form of the Internet! They had sophisticated hospitals capable of providing services to all sorts of species (including humans, despite the fact that there were absolutely no humans in the place besides Samus and me) that bustled with such speed that there were absolutely no waiting lines. There were no police stations, fire departments, or even postal services, probably because of the Internet. But I loved their libraries and educational institutions! Apparently, Calculus AB was an introductory course at their **elementary schools**. It blew me away.

Our last stop was the plaza at the center of town. Oddly enough, there was a huge crowd. Almost all of the Chozo in the village were gathered around the area. Team Pecha may have been reminded of Treasure Town's Town Square, but I instantly recognized the object in the center. It was a giant crystal; the exact same one from Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles that staved off the miasma from Tipa Village. I suddenly got nervous.

"H—hey, Old Bird? There's miasma on this planet too?" I asked.

He laughed and patted me on the back, pretty hard. "Of course not, young one. That crystal merely powers the shield that protects our village from storms like the one from the night before."

"Oooooh…" uttered Team Pecha.

Neither Grovyle nor I had any idea what happened here the night before, so Samus explained it to us. But I still had one last question. "Old Bird, how did you know that miasma—?"

"I believe I shall explain."

The crowd suddenly became silent at the sound of the voice. A tall, ethereal being, almost like a Luminoth but with eight white glowing, magnificent wings, floated out from behind the crystal. I had never ever seen a being like him before, and his majestic presence took my breath away. "Who—I mean, what—I mean, who are you?" I asked.

"My name is Kel-Zich, and you already know what I am. I…am a Ylla." He pronounced it exactly the way I imagined it would: YIH-luh. Considering how imprecise the English language is when it comes to made-up names, that didn't happen very often.

My heart skipped a beat. "You're a Ylla? Whoa." I mean, this was a really obscure being in the Metroid universe. I only happened to hear about them in a description about the Luminoth. Basically, the Luminoth were intelligent beings from Metroid Prime 2: Echoes that learned from other enlightened beings such as the N'kren, the Chozo…and the Ylla. But here was the rub: I knew what the Chozo and the Luminoth looked like. There were absolutely no pictures of the N'kren or the Ylla. That's how obscure they were.

He floated down from the rock the crystal was wedged in and stopped in front of me. Then he did a surprising thing: He bowed to me. "Amy [you know who]…it is my deepest honor to finally be able to meet you in person. Please accept my infinite gratitude." He then turned to the crowd and announced, "Fellow beings! The day we have long awaited for has finally come. The Master of This Universe has arrived." He pointed a long, bony, glowing finger at me.

I stared in confusion. So did the Pokémon. The Chozo crowd gasped and started muttering among themselves. Samus asked, "Wait. What do you mean she's the…Master…of This Universe…?"

Kel-Zich floated to the rock with the crystal in it and sat down, beckoning us to come closer and sit down too. "I believe you all have a right to know the truths I have discovered. You enemies have unfairly exploited your ignorance for far too long." We sat down, and I swear the crowd moved in further to hear what the guy had to say.

"You see, young Amy, everything in this universe originates from the depths of your mind…the Pokémon…the Metroids…Samus Aran…Robattles…miasma, and many, many more. If you were not alive, none of us would exist."

I was floored, and I'm pretty sure everyone else was too. "Wait, so we're…INSIDE MY HEAD?"

"No, child. There are infinite amounts of parallel universes. There are universes not just from your mind, but also from the minds of every being of every universe, and many, many more. It boggles even my mind. But that is where the complications arose. You see, in the natural course of events, no normal being should ever be able to travel to a dimension from their own mind. As long as they remain outside, their universe remains safe, controlled, and in-balance. However…a certain being pulled you into this universe in order to disrupt its balance. You are aware of who he is, correct?"

I thought back to the day everything changed, starting from my weird dream. "Zoroark?" I guessed.

"Correct. We would like it if you told us your story from there. Include as many details as you can. We are quite curious."

So I told them everything, from the night Zoroark pulled me in to today. It took a long time, but Kel-Zich was nice enough to hand me some magical floating globules of water whenever I got thirsty. I swore there was something special about that water, because when I drank it, it completely refreshed my throat. Normal water couldn't necessarily do that. Finally, after I finished, Kel-Zich wanted Big Amy, Chikorita, Grovyle and then Samus to tell their sides of the story. It took a really long time, and the sun had set by the end, but the way they told their stories was so engaging, I never missed a single word.

Finally, Kel-Zich came to a conclusion. "I see. Amy [you know who], it seems to be quite clear that Zoroark is working for Queen X, the hive mind leader of the X Parasites...and now, the Space Pirates. Queen X desired your intimate knowledge of everything in this universe so she could subjugate the galaxy. She manipulated him, who in turn manipulated your every move. Judging by how she cleverly weaved her way through all of your stories, it seems that she coerced you into situations that would force you to reveal your knowledge to your friends…which in turn would cause Samus to abandon you and Grovyle to almost kill you on Planet Portania."

"So we were like puppets within a puppet show inside of a puppet show!" I gasped, thinking back to a similar picture I created back on Earth.

Big Amy brought up another point. "Hey wait a second. Mr. Malkovich said that the Ylla gave our planet the name Planet Portania. Was that you?"

"Indeed. Were you aware that in the scientific community, Pokémon are considered a single species? It is because all of you have the exact same molecular structure, albeit an extremely flexible one. So flexible, in fact, that it could mutate into 17 different elemental affinities, with over 1,000 different-looking forms. The name Portania, in the Ylla language, was inspired by that fact; that from a single species could there be so much variety. It is a beautiful miracle."

Chikorita couldn't help but shed a few tears of gratitude.

"But Queen X already copied all of us. What's she going to do now?" asked Grovyle.

"She is building her army. For some reason she wasn't aware of, her almost-killing of young Amy caused this entire dimension to almost collapse in on itself, so she fled to a nearby dimension and by now is attempting to conquer it. Luckily, Old Bird and Gray Voice managed to put the four of you in cold sleep to halt the X Parasite infection, and Samus managed to find some Metroid DNA to cure you, therefore stopping this universe's destruction."

"So I have to be alive in order for this universe to exist?" I asked.

He thought hard. "…No. That is also not supposed to happen in the natural course of events. Why did this universe start to collapse…? It may be related to a rule in the laws of time and space. I suspect it may also be related to you too, Amy Vee Purima," he said, pointing to Big Amy.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"You and Amy [you know who]'s souls…are emitting the same aura. Huh. Curious. I need to research further."

"Research?" I asked.

"Yes. How do you think I know so much? I meditate every day, probing the secrets of this universe. The day I found that you were the Master of This Universe was the happiest day of my life. But I am still sorry. I, too, was too late to help you avoid Queen X's deadly trap."

We all sat there, thinking hard about everything we've been through.

He continued. "…Nevertheless, Queen X will eventually discover that you are still alive, children. And when she does, and finds that you have Metroid DNA…she will stop at nothing to kill you all. And she will be nearly impossible to defeat since she can perform everything you all are capable of, combine your powers, and worst of all, create an infinite army of perfect clones."

We gulped. Finally, Old Bird came up with a solution. "But, Kel-Zich. The children now have Metroid DNA. Queen X will no longer be able to copy them anymore. Which means that, if we rapidly increase their combat abilities and assist them in conquering their weaknesses within, say, a four-week training program…"

Kel-Zich stared at us with an unusually sly look on his face. "Hmm. That…could work."

He then stood up in front of the crystal, faced us all, and announced, "Amy [you know who], Amy Vee Purima, Chikorita, Grovyle, Samus Aran, Adam Malkovich, and Celebi? Welcome to Yamamori Village, so named for the fact that it is between Torgus Forest and Mr. Chorshire." I thought it over. Huh. More Japanese. At least it wasn't something as convoluted as Konohagakure Village from Naruto. (On the other hand, any word that meant "village hidden in the leaves" wouldn't be such a bad idea, either.)

And with that, the Chozo brought out all of these drums and wind instruments and started playing songs. Many of them ran up to the crystal and danced around it, officially welcoming us into their village. It lasted for only 10 minutes or so, but the tune was so catchy, I couldn't help but clap along the whole time. Why didn't the Metroid games ever tell me how musical the Chozo civilization was? Guess I've been missing out on some great fun.

* * *

So it was decided that Big Amy and I would spend the night at Kel-Zich's house. I suspected he wanted to research us a bit more. Samus moved back in with Old Bird and Gray Voice, which made sense, since they were practically her grandfather and her father. Grovyle and Chikorita were originally supposed to move in with Shining Flame and her close cousin Platinum Chest, but they bellyached so hard about it that Kel-Zich offered to take them in too, on the condition that we were in separate rooms. Those two Grass Pokémon really were overprotective of Big Amy and me, I guess. Anyway, I was thrilled to see that Kel-Zich's house had full amenities and stuff for Big Amy and me, just like in Shining Flame's house. To top it off, I was finally able to actually put on those pink PJs I bought all the way back in Gaijin City.

Big Amy and I shared a bed in one room, while Chikorita and Grovyle stayed in a nearby room that was practically connected to the forest outside. Kel-Zich had his own glowing room that I suspected had a secret tunnel that led all the way to the crystal in the center of town. Big Amy and I bounced on the massive, super-fluffy bed for about 30 minutes before we finally felt tired.

"Hey, Big Amy? Remember the time when Chikorita and Grovyle used you as a pillow?"

"Yeah. Do you want to—?"

"No, wait! Just saying…"

"Meh. They were meanie-butts about it. But you? You're nice. Besides, your hair is comfy. Their heads…" She grimaced. "Not so much."

We both laughed. Then I paused as I remembered something. "…I can only ever fall asleep on my back. What about you, Big Amy?"

"Oh yeah, you're right! Me too…" She thought for a bit, popped off her magical red bow that stuck to her back all the time, and placed it on the nearby table that also held my water bottle and retainer case. She then kicked the pillow off the bed and flopped, face down, in its place. "Hey! I can still breathe!" she mumbled.

"Yay!" I exclaimed.

We turned out the orange wall lights just by clapping twice. I rested my head on her and pulled up the covers, staring into the millions of stars above through the glass (or at least I think it was glass) ceiling above. Normally, I'd feel guilty for using any friend of mine as a pillow, even if she was a cute fluffy puffball, but the texture of her body felt so insanely heavenly, my eyelids slammed shut almost immediately.

"Goodnight, Big Amy…" I yawned.

"Goodnight, Little Amy!" she mumbled. I swear she giggled a bit, too. Maybe she thought my hair was a bit ticklish. Or maybe she wasn't kidding about my hair being comfy.

Right before I fell asleep, I checked my watch. June 26. I thought over those last few words Old Bird and Kel-Zich said. Whatever training they were talking about would take four weeks? Like Institute For the Arts, huh? Now that was a fun camp…at least, for the first few years I took it (from when I was a rising 8th grader to a rising 11th grader). Four weeks in July, and I could choose whichever four courses I wanted. I skipped it last summer since I was already bored of it, and that I needed to practice for Cross Country. Cross Country, huh? I wondered if this training they were planning would be just as intense.

* * *

_What the two Amy's don't know is that there is a super-secret video camera in the corner running a scanner over them both. The data is being transmitted to a computer-like hologram monitor in Kel-Zich's room. He processes the data._

Computer voice: Psycho-analysis complete.

Kel-Zich: Good. Bring up data file 41-062.

_The computer brings up the requested data file and shows it on the screen._

Amy [you know who]  
Data File 41-062: WORST FEARS

—Bees, spiders, and stinging insects in general  
—Homicidal people (latest entry: Grovyle)  
—Competition  
—Dissection, probes, etc.  
—Cosmopolitan people  
—Being stricken by lightning  
—Violent assaults  
—One-hit-kill weapons in general  
—Interspecies romance/dating

_The list goes on and on before going to Team Pecha's and finally to the end._

Kel-Zich: (I see, I see…Amy [you know who], Amy Vee Purima, Chikorita, and Grovyle…Starting tomorrow, we shall do everything in our power to help you conquer as many of these fears as we can.)

To be continued…

**Coming up next: And here I thought my Cross Country training was brutal. Obviously, I had no idea what "brutal training" really feels like! What kind of torturous exercises has Kel-Zich thought up for me now? I will find out next time, first-hand, **The Terror of Training!


	20. The Terror of Training!

Chapter 20: The Terror of Training!

**Author's Note: I've deleted two chapters that used to be in here, which were between Chapters 20 and 21 and Chapters 22 and 23. Forgive the mess if the chapter numbers from here on out are a little off…When I create the abridged comic version on Deviantart, I'll update them.**

"They are right behind you, Amy! Move it! Faster! Faster!"

Yeah. Right. Easy for you to say, Master Kel-Zich.

That's right: The Ylla guy was making me call him Master now, as if he had the right to supersede me, whom he personally called the Master of This Universe.

I was in the middle of a five-mile run, and Master Kel-Zich suddenly thought it would be fun to motivate me to run for my life from more of those Vulpimancer-creatures. To top it off, he made me wear this ridiculously heavy pathetic excuse of a "Power Suit" that kept making these annoying Game Boy noises reminiscent of Metroid battles from Metroid 2: Return of Samus whenever I moved around in it. I'll admit that the sounds were pretty addicting for the first five minutes, but after that…it was really starting to get on my nerves. I wondered if that was what a knight in armor felt like, without the music. The convoluted suit did way more harm than good; it severely restricted my movement, its defensive value was questionable, and it didn't protect my face at all. Oh yeah, and did I mention that the temperature and humidity were off the charts that day?

So how did it come to this? Let me explain. I finally had the most amazing dream ever in which I was able to play a bit of Metroid: Other M, but right when I was about to start the game, Kel-Zich shouted a really freaky noise that sounded like "YODILAHIHOOOOGABOOGA!" or something like that in our faces, knocking Big Amy and me off the bed. He suddenly announced that we were to begin our training immediately and call him Master Kel-Zich. Before I could complain about him interrupting my dream, he shoved the suit on me, which felt more like a ton of bricks falling from the sky. Finally, he ordered me to run two laps around the village. So here I was.

"The only reason you, Amy [you know who] are still alive, is because Queen X wanted to keep you alive until the moment she herself could kill you. The moment she discovers you are still alive now, she will attack at the worst possible times, when you are least prepared, under the worst possible conditions for you! She will exploit any weakness you have, use any distractions possible, and above all, will not hold anything back. She will strike you mercilessly until you are dead! GOT IT?"

"I got it! I got it!" I'd said that five times already. In my head, I tried to hum the Son of Man song from Tarzan to pass the time, but those Game Boy sounds kept annoying me, and besides, I realized the lyrics didn't quite match up with the situation, if you know what I mean. I wondered what my friends were doing at the time…

* * *

_Meanwhile, Amy Purima the Jigglypuff is busy with problems of her own. She's bouncing on huge springy mushrooms in the forest reminiscent of the Mushroom Forest from the original Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles when Celebi flies up and shoots her with that spell!_

Celebi: Ala-kablooie!

_Yes, it hits and turns her from a Jigglypuff back into a human in midair. She quickly loses her balance._

Amy: Wh—what the heck? OW! Ow ow ow!

_She falls down, hitting all the mushrooms on the way, until she lands on the ground hard._

Amy: Ooow…huh?

_Platinum Chest stands over her, with Celebi floating behind him._

Platinum Chest: Amy Purima! Queen X already knows how weak you are in human form! She's going to do whatever she can to turn you back like this! You have to be able to move just as well as you did as a Jigglypuff. Now get up and try again!

Celebi: And work on your air dodging skills, too! You're too easy to hit up there, sister!

Amy: GAH! Okay, okay!

_As for Chikorita, she's on top of the mountain (actually a volcano), in an extremely cold area. She's facing a terrifying Acid Worm named Mua that's 100 feet long that's coming from the crater._

Chikorita (whimpering): …! …! …AAAAAAGH! Amy! Where are you? HELP!

_She freaks out and runs around, desperately dodging the worms aggressive lashings like Fire Fangs. Sitting on top of the Acid Worm, controlling it by the reins, is Shining Flame. She stops to give a word to Chikorita._

Shining Flame: Chikorita! Now that you have Metroid DNA, you are now **four times** as weak to fire and ice! Furthermore, you can't afford to be afraid of cute and cuddly monsters such as this little guy. Queen X knows it, so you must conquer your fears and fight him!

Chikorita (wailing): Wha—wha—what do you mean, "cute and cuddly"?

Shining Flame: I mean that there are creatures far more threatening than him. If you really want to be worthy of being a Space Warrior, you have to be prepared for **anything!**

_Finally, Grovyle is locked deep underground close to a magma chamber in the mountain. He is blindfolded, and is trying to attack random magma worms crawling all around him. Some are real, and some are fake. The real ones die normally, while the fake ones blow up in his face._

Grovyle: I don't get this at all!

_Another benevolent Chozo trainer, Whispers of the Stars, appears from out of nowhere. She gives him some advice._

Whispers of the Stars: Grovyle. Your combat skills are extremely impressive already, and so is your willpower and determination. But Queen X will know about all of that, and will use it against you. You have to forget everything you have ever learned about who can be trusted and who cannot…and learn to recognize the ways in which she will try to bring back your worst fears.

Grovyle: But how am I supposed to tell which is real and which isn't?

Whispers of the Stars: Close your eyes and focus harder. Try to learn how to detect the X Parasites' aura. When your soul is able to grasp upon the essence of your enemy, even you will be able to attack an enemy without form.

Grovyle (in realization): Oooooh…! So you mean, like, Foresight! Or maybe it was Odor Sleuth. Sorry. I don't think my species can naturally learn those moves.

Whispers of the Stars: Which is all the more important for you to learn them.

Grovyle: But that's like saying I can learn how to breathe fire! It's just **not possible**, y'know?

Whispers of the Stars (finally losing her patience): Yes, yes, I am well aware of that…but this is a strategy all life forms can learn. SO JUST DO IT!

Grovyle: Okay, okay! (Sheesh…)

* * *

That was sooooo brutal! But not long after I finished running laps, Master Kel-Zich carted me back inside…the Chozo School. He then began to drill me in really complex Calculus problems, alien texts, and hypothetical moral dilemmas. It was only two hours, but my brain was already fried by then.

At least they actually let me eat my favorite food for lunch. Spinach quiche, turkey-and-cheese omelets, steamed brocolli and carrots, rice balls...the selection went on and on. I was initially confused as to how they would come up with any food for humans, much less ones that I liked, but I then realized that Master Kel-Zich probably had something to do with it. We might've been sitting in a cafeteria inside the building...but there were these dragonfly-like flying insects that I've never seen before swarming all over the place. I mean, these bugs were anywhere from 2 to 3 inches long, and they were trying to swoop down at the food. Some of the people there actually did leave their leftovers for the insects, but I suspected that the rest simply used them for dodging practice.

Grovyle, Chikorita, Big Amy and I discussed everything the Chozo put us through that whole morning, while dodging the insects at the same time. To be honest, I didn't know if any of their experiences were any more grueling than mine. They all seemed about the same level. I was worried I'd get a stomachache from eating, talking, and dodging at the same time, but luckily for me, it never happened. After I finished, I asked, "Hey. Where's Samus?"

Turned out she was just sitting outside Old Bird and Gray Voice's house, playing something on my pink DS Lite. "Samus? Why aren't they making **you** train?" I asked.

"Huh? Oh." She looked up and laughed. "Old Bird and Gray Voice trained me for 11 years. The Galactic Federation trained me for the next two years after that, and I was the best out of everyone. And I've been completing missions for 9 years after that. I think that I should take a break now!"

I smacked my forehead. "Right! I knew that!" I then bent down to take a look at the DS screen. "You're playing Metroid Fusion?"

"Yeah. This primitive device is surprisingly addictive. Too bad I can only control myself in 2-D."

She let me have a closer look at the screen. I saw that she was in Sector 6 (NOC), and my eyes widened when I saw what she did. "You got that Power Bomb tank! I could NEVER get that Power Bomb tank!" I exclaimed in shock.

See, I never knew how to break Speed Booster blocks from above. Turns out all Samus had to do was charge up the Speed Booster, start running on a slope, and then **use the Screw Attack to jump in and smash the blocks from above!** All this time, my brother and I have been at our wit's end trying to get that last Power Bomb expansion. We were always at 99% completion and could never get **that one!**

"Wow. For real? That was way too easy," she replied. I then heard Master Kel-Zich's voice in the distance echoing, "Amy [you-know-who]! We have not finished your training yet!"

I groaned. Samus laughed. "Playing hooky, huh?"

"N—no, wait! Look, I was never the type to play hooky from school, okay? It's just…" I sighed in exhaustion. "You won't believe what I've been through today."

"Bet it was nothing compared to my training."

Before I could ask her exactly what her training entailed, Master Kel-Zich telekinetically dragged me by the collar away to the next lesson. Samus chuckled and continued playing, and I was pretty sure she was speedrunning in the game, too. There was no way she could've gotten that far and played it so expertly otherwise.

Finally, evening came, and we all finally had a chance to rest around the giant crystal in the middle of Town Square. But before we knew it, all the Chozo (and Master Kel-Zich) decided to gather there and perform another song and dance. I asked Old Bird, and he explained that they celebrate like this every night. It was exactly like in Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, only without the whole purify-the-crystal-with-Myrrh thingy. In terms of dancing styles here's how it went: Everyone danced like Yukes, I danced like a Clavat, Samus danced like a Selkie (somersaults are nothing for her, obviously) and Big Amy, Chikorita, and Grovyle made up their own moves. Master Kel-Zich was surprised that I still had so much energy for dancing even though I was so obviously dead tired from the whole day, but I suspected that this was part of the training too, judging by the way he had the Chozo musicians play all of these ridiculously catchy songs on purpose.

Eventually, we all had to go back, and so did the crowd. By that point, the sun had completely set, and millions of stars lit the sky. Only torches were available to light the way back. I took it all in, marveling at how beautiful it was compared to my old home back on Earth in the past.

I was about to crash on the bed in my room when Master Kel-Zich had other ideas. He shoved a whole notebook of paper at Big Amy and me. "Wait, wha—? What now?" I groaned.

"I want you two to write down everything that happened to you since the day you first came onto this adventure. Soon, it may come to pass that these written records will be the only proof that you ever existed at all," he explained.

His words made me shiver. This was exactly like in the Pendragon series of novels by D.J. Machale that I read one time. Big Amy yawned and asked, "B—but why? I'm tiiiired…"

"Endure it for just a while longer, girls. You will find often that life will require you to have last-minute stamina to achieve necessary goals. This is merely training. Good luck." With that, he left the room, leaving us to rack our brains and write everything that happened. Now you know how I started writing these journals. I only got to finish Chapter 3: Welcome to Gaijin City! before I couldn't take it anymore and conked out. [Note that it was only later when I factored in everyone else's stories that I decided to change it to Chapter 4: F-I-R-D.]

So that ended up being our daily routine for the rest of the week. I **was** grateful for an actual routine since the past four days were nothing but chaos for me. Even now, I could hardly believe that it took 14 [actually, 19] chapters to fill up four days worth of adventures. On the other hand, the training was, to say the least, agonizing. I thought my school's cross-country training was grueling. Obviously, I hadn't seen what cruel training really was until now!

Here's how it went for me:

5:30 am: Run 5 laps around Yamamori Village while dodging boulders and Vulpimancer dudes.  
7: 30 am: Eat breakfast.  
8:00 am: Solve psychology puzzles, Calculus equations, and moral dilemmas.  
10:00 am: Train in the jungle (in other words, learn how to swing like Tarzan).  
12:00: Lunch (includes hungry alien insect-dodging practice).  
12:30 pm: Mental training, including, but not limited to maintaining focus in the face of emotionally wrenching situations such as teasing and bullying.  
2:00 pm: Martial-arts combat lessons, including but not limited to Aikido.  
5:00 pm: Dinner (more dodging hungry alien insects).  
5:30 pm: Storytelling.  
6:45 pm: Singing and dancing.  
8:30 pm: Journal writing.  
10:30 pm: Conk out on the bed.

So, yeah. I only got 7 hours of sleep per night on average. I was so tired! After only four days (my watch said June 30), though, something different happened. Master Kel-Zich brought Grovyle, Chikorita, Big Amy, and me together that morning.

"Huh? Why are we all here?" asked Grovyle.

Master Kel-Zich explained, "Judging by the amount of progress you all have accomplished, I believe it is time for you the four of you to finally practice an exercise together. After all, you all need to learn how to work as a team."

Big Amy and Chikorita cheered, "YAAAY! Finally!"

"What're we gonna do?" I asked.

He pointed to the mountain and explained, "I want the four of you to climb Mt. Chorshire and reach the top in less than 10 minutes. And I mean all four. The timer will not stop until all four of you step in the glowing space we've designated at the top. Ready?"

"Yeah!" we all shouted.

"Then three…two…one…start!"

Master Kel-Zich brought up a hologram countdown clock and made it float in midair. We took off running to the mountain. I came across a boulder that was hard for me to climb over. "Help me get up, will ya, Big Amy?" I asked.

"Jigglypuff Jiggly!" she replied.

Huh?

"Uh…say that again?" I asked.

"Chiko chiko chikori?" repeated Chikorita for Amy.

My face froze. "…Uh-oh."

"Grovyle? Grovyle?" screeched Grovyle in confusion.

There was only one explanation why they were suddenly talking like real Pokémon. I gasped, "…No way. They turned off our translators. I can't understand a thing you guys are saying!"

"Jigglyyyyyy!"

"Chikooooo!"

Yeah, they were freaking out. I pleaded to them, "Guys, guys! Calm down. We've gotta think this through."

They did. We sat down for a moment and looked around the mountain. There was a glowing orb at the top of the mountain that looked like a force field of some sort. Actually, make those four force fields; one in red, one in blue, one in yellow, and one in green. Lower on the mountain, there were four levers in corresponding colors.

"Grovyle! Grovyle Grovyle Grovyle! Grovyle Grovyle—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Sorry, Grovyle. I thought I told you I can't understand what you're saying!"

He looked confused and tilted his head. "Grovyle?"

I paused. "Wait a second. You can understand ME?"

He nodded. So did Big Amy and Chikorita. I slapped my forehead. Pokémon can understand humans, but we can't understand Pokémon! "Of course! Okay, got it."

I stood up, and they looked at me expectantly. If this one-way conversation would work, I'd have to do it right. "Since you can understand me, but I can't understand you guys, just listen closely and do what I say, okay?"

Big Amy and Chikorita nodded enthusiastically. Grovyle did too, but a little more hesitantly.

"I can understand your gestures. That's good, that's good. Okay. See those levers? We have to get up there and push them. I think that'll make the force fields go away. Then we run up there and step on that glowing spot they're blocking. I'll take the red one. Big Amy, you take the blue one. Chikorita, you'll take the yellow one, and Grovyle, you'll take the green one. Got it?"

They all nodded.

"Then let's go!"

We ran. Big Amy had a bit of trouble finding the blue lever since it was behind the mountain, but other than that, the climb up the mountain went smoothly. Sort of. There were too many boulders bigger than my height to climb, so Grovyle had to help me out. Chikorita could always use her Vine Whips and Big Amy could just bounce that high. When Grovyle was confident that I could make it the rest of the way, he ran off to the green lever.

All I had to do was push the red lever the other way, and the red force field disappeared. As I ran up the mountain to the peak, the other three force fields disappeared. I looked at the clock in the sky. Six minutes left. Cool! I wondered why they gave us ten minutes to do what we could do in five.

Unfortunately, the answer came just as we reached the peak. I probably should've suspected it when I saw four flashes in the sky…or that crash that knocked us off our feet. About a minute after I saw those flashes, all four force fields rematerialized one by one. We skidded to a halt in dismay. I looked down and saw four new people, one pushing each lever back, that weren't there before.

"No way…" I gasped. At the blue lever was a puffball with light blue skin and dark blue feet whom I recognized as Kirby, and his Formula Star Air Ride Machine lay buried close by. At the yellow and green levers were two Wuudites. Unless I was hallucinating, I was pretty sure they were Plu-thrim and Los-Nom, respectively. Their ship was shaped like a giant seed pod, and it lay at the base of the mountain. Finally, at the red lever was a humanoid creature about my height (maybe a little taller) with translucent purple skin. I could red and blue blood vessels, as well as an elastic skeletal structure, under her skin. It made for a creepy effect. Wasn't that Gandrayda? Wait. I thought she was dead! I mean, didn't Dark Samus from Metroid Prime 3: Corruption personally take over and kill her on the Space Pirate Homeworld?

My friends groaned in frustration.

"We don't have any choice. I think we have to fight them or something. Or at least convince them to stop messing things up for us," I observed. They nodded. We dashed down the mountain to our respective levers. As I ran closer to the purple shape-shifter lady guarding my lever, she smiled nastily at me. I gulped, and realized that maybe running straight at her was a really stupid idea.

It was. In more ways than one.

I planned to duck behind a boulder and run at her from the side, but running down a mountain was more hazardous than running up, and I tripped. At the same time, she charged at me in a blast of purple energy, but since I tripped, I fell out of her way, but not for long. I scrambled up to the lever, barely dodging another attack, my head still throbbing. I managed to leap at the lever and push it back. Right then, Gandrayda cartwheeled in front of me and slammed the lever back.

"HEY!" I shouted.

She giggled and shot a snappy remark at me…in an alien language. All I could utter was, "…Huh?" She cackled again and reclined against a rock, using the lever as a footrest…the wrong way. I growled in frustration and tried to kick the lever the right way. It didn't work. It didn't occur to me to check the clock until I realized that I only had one minute and 30 seconds left!

In desperation, I pushed the rock around so Gandrayda would hold the lever down the right way. Hoping that she'd stay asleep, I ran for it. I looked up at the force fields. The red one dissolved, and my friends immediately jumped in. Apparently, they've already beaten their enemies and were waiting for me. Right when I reached it, the red force field re-materialized. I shouted, "AAARGH!" in frustration. Apparently, Gandrayda woke up.

Chikorita couldn't take it anymore. She shot a Razor Leaf…and the leaves sliced right through the force field. Half the leaves smacked Gandrayda, while the other half hit the lever. I jumped through to my friends before Gandrayda could bring the force field back up. Our combined weights pushed the huge glowing spot (that I found was actually a button) down, causing the glow to fade entirely, turning the force fields off permanently. The timer stopped with five seconds to spare. "WOOHOO!" we cheered.

We?

"I didn't know I could shoot a Razor Leaf through that force field!" exclaimed Chikorita.

"Yeah, I saw that! Why didn't anyone tell me?" exclaimed Big Amy.

"I think only the yellow force field affected you, Chikorita," suggested Grovyle.

My jaw dropped. "I can understand you guys again!"

They turned to me, their jaws dropping too. It looked like they were trying to say something, but all they could do was stutter and twitch. I heard clapping from down the mountain.

"Good job, good job! You did way worse than I thought you would, but you did it, anyway!" congratulated Gandrayda.

One of the Wuudites spoke up. "Yes, it was all a test. Kel-Zich shall explain."

We recognized the voice. "So it **was** you, Plu-Thrim! I knew it!" gasped Chikorita.

Master Kel-Zich floated down from the sky on his magically glowing eight wings that never failed to take my breath away. "Correct. Perhaps one of the most important skills you need to learn in order to defeat Queen X is teamwork. It is likely that she will disable your translators just like in this exercise, so you need to learn how to still function as a team even when you cannot communicate. Luckily, you have all passed. Now come to the Town Square, children. We shall explain everything."

Los-Nom and the blue Kirby woke up, too.

* * *

That evening, we were all gathered at Town Square. The four of us sat down in exhaustion. Gandrayda, Los-Nom, Plu-Thrim, and the blue Kirby were dancing around the crystal in front of us.

The village elder, Essence Sight, announced to the Chozo crowd around us, "Fellow villagers! We have gathered here today to welcome four new visitors to our humble village. Old Bird, Gray Voice, Kel-Zich, and I have selected them for the express purpose of assisting in the training the four children."

Interesting…I knew that the four of them suddenly arriving in the middle of our training exercise couldn't have been a coincidence. They planned this all along. Master Kel-Zich then introduced the four new arrivals from right to left. "This is Kirby from the Planet Popstar. He passed the test to become a Space Warrior—or as he calls it, a Star Warrior—a year ago and regularly comes by here to ensure that no malicious presences detect Planet Chozodia."

Big Amy smiled. "So your name's Kirby?"

The 1'4" blue puffball bounced in front of her and squealed, "That's wight! You're weally weally stwong. What's your name?"

"Amy!"

I cut in, "H—hey, my name's Amy, too—!"

Kirby cheered "Amyyy!" and hugged her. He cheered "Amyyy!" again and hugged me. Then he exclaimed, "TWO Amys!" Everyone doubled over in laughter. Even I could help but be amused, if not a little intimidated by his little-boy antics and speech patterns. Was he really a Space Warrior—I mean, Star Warrior—whatever?

"Kirby? Wait a second here…aren't you supposed to be pink?" I asked.

"Huh?" He tilted his head in confusion.

I smacked my forehead for not realizing this sooner. "Oh, I get it! There are eight of you, right? You're just the blue Kirby. The original pink one is somewhere else, right?"

"Yeah! Yeah! I know him! He's still on Pwanet Popstar!" he replied in enthusiasm.

So it was just like in all those Kirby games. I responded, "Oooooooooh, okay! That makes sense."

"Er-hem. Right. Moving on." Master Kel-Zich continued, "This is Los-Nom and Plu-Thrim, Wuudites originally from Planet Wuud who lived outside Gaijin City. They say they have already met the children."

"Correct you are," agreed Los-Nom.

"Yes. Kel-Zich decided that he needed our assistance for your training, so he called us, and we have finally arrived," explained Plu-Thrim. I was amazed at how the three of them (all of the Chozo in the village, for that matter) were able to speak so formally, with no contractions at all. If I didn't watch myself, I'd end up speaking like them too. Not that it'd be a bad thing, of course.

"And finally…This is Gandrayda, a biomorph. She was a bounty hunter of the Galactic Federation who has extensive experience with the Space Pirates." Gandrayda performed a few cartwheels around the crystal and giggled in delight. Despite her mature appearance, she acted just as immaturely as Kirby, maybe even more so. I groaned on the inside. Half of our new training helpers were way below us in maturity levels? That didn't make much sense.

Right then, I heard Samus' voice float through the crowd, muttering, "…I can't believe this! This is such a **rip-off!**"

I ran up to her and saw that she was holding my pink DS Lite and glaring at the upper screen in disgust. "What? What's wrong, Samus?" I asked, genuinely concerned.

She replied, "Oh! There you are, Amy. Look at this! Just look at it!" So I did, wondering what was the problem. Did the game glitch up or something? It was an old Game Boy Advance cartridge, after all. The top screen made my jaw drop. It said:

CLEAR TIME:  
1:54

YOUR RATE FOR COLLECTING ITEMS IS:  
100%

It also showed a picture of Samus with her armor completely off. For a moment I was flabbergasted. "How is this a rip-off? You're amazing, Samus! You got the best ending ever! I could only ever get the 3rd or 4th best—Waaaaait a second…" I then held my tongue when I realized exactly why she was glaring in the first place. I pointed to the picture of her and trailed off, "You don't mean—?"

"That's exactly what I mean! I completed the entire game in under two hours like you said AND collected every single freaking Missile and Power Bomb tank! And what do I get? A pinup of me in that ridiculous outfit that clearly panders to you-know-what-kind-of-guys-I'm-talking-about! For **shame**, those early 21st century-people had no sense of gender equality! I mean, what the heck is…" Her rant trailed off as she emerged from the crowd and saw the new arrivals. She stopped right in place and gasped, "Gandrayda? I thought you were dead!"

"That's what I thought too," I added.

Gandrayda squealed, "Sammy! So this is where you're hiding!" She cartwheeled to us, glanced at the top screen of the DS, and remarked, "What are you talking about, girl? You look gorgeous!" Samus and I exchanged worried glances. I bet we were thinking the same thing about Gandrayda's questionable tastes in fashion.

My Pokémon friends were stunned. "You called her Sammy?" asked Big Amy.

"Yep!" She then turned to me and remarked, "So you're the famous Amy [you know who]! I've really gotta thank you. Those Space Pirate boys tested that revival liquid of yours on me first, and it worked so well, I busted out of there! Oh yeah! They never saw it coming!"

Grovyle asked, "You mean you were on the Space Pirate Homeworld too? How come we never saw you?"

Gandrayda bounced in front of him. She morphed herself into a Space Pirate, freaking my Pokémon friends out. She giggled and morphed back. "You were all in that dream device thingy. I thought I'd hang back and see how you'd escape." She ran up to Samus to have a final word with her. "Nice to see you again, Sammy."

"**Who** is Sammy now?" emitted another latecomer. It was Celebi. She flew through the crowd and finally found us. "Oooooooh. Samus Aran. Gotcha. Nice one, purple!"

"Yeah, that's right. Me and Sammy go waaaaaaaay back."

Before she could explain any further, Master Kel-Zich called for the official song-and-dance conclusion to formally initiate the four new arrivals into the village. This time, though, Los-Nom and Plu-Thrim were able to lead. As we danced, I noticed several things (other than the fact that Big Amy turned back into a Jigglypuff, of course). She and the blue Kirby seemed to be getting along pretty well. Samus switched to playing my Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky DS game, muttering something about how she hoped it would be more fun. And at the same time, Celebi and Gandrayda really seemed to be hitting it off with each other. Little did I know just how much trouble and insanity those two giggly girls would cause for Big Amy and me…

The morning of July 2 (and yes, I am keeping track of the days now), we answered the usual knocking at the door. It was Gandrayda and Celebi. They stood there (or at least, Celebi floated in midair) with big grins on their faces. I rubbed my eyes and asked, "Celebi? Gandrayda? What is it?"

Gandrayda answered, in a bit of an odd voice, "You know…a little birdie told me…that you, Little Amy, wanted to learn how to ride an Air Ride Machine."

I replied, "That'd be cool and all, except I can't really…fit."

Celebi added, "Also, we've been thinking…about those names you came up with. Little Amy and Big Amy? I mean, how the heck does THAT work out?"

Gandrayda continued, "So we got to thinking. I'm sorry, but those names…they're just way too ludicrous. So we thought about switching 'em for you."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

She morphed—more like, shrank—into a green, two-headed alien whom I instantly recognized and panicked. "Swapper?" I exclaimed. I mean, Swapper, Experiment 355 from Lilo and Stitch: The Series, the guy who could swap people's souls! "Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa! Hang on a second! What are you trying to do—?"

She did it.

I knew it when I realized that everyone looked much taller than before. I knew it when I heard my voice exclaim, "Hey! How'd I get way up here?" I knew it when Gandrayda reverted to her normal form, towered over me, and exchanged hi-fives with Celebi. And I definitely knew it when Gandrayda held a Chozo mirror in front of my face—body—whatever, and did the same for a certain human in a sailor suit that I personally picked out myself.

It was just like in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon.

"H—hey, Little Amy? I think…I'm you now."

To be continued…

**Coming up next: **How to Be Puffball**, huh? Hopefully, that'll be easier than How to Be Civilized. Wait…what is this…?**


	21. How to Be Puffball

**Gandrayda: Yo, wassup? You all out there can call me Her Royal Awesome Highness Her Majesty Gandrayda Aramaiya Tsu'phonia Bkashlar the Number One Bounty Hunter of the Galactic Federation Now That They Fired Sammy For Me the First, Last, Best, and Only…Ph.D., M.D., B.A., and B.S., All in the Art of Stealth, Combat, and Everything. (And that's just the short version! BELIEVE IT!)**

**Celebi: Hi! My name is…Celebi…the…uh… (Aww, man! Why can't my name be as long as Gandrayda's?)**

**Gandrayda and Celebi: And we are going to teach you…*gasp*…**

Chapter 22: How to Be Puffball

**Lesson 1: A true puffball knows how to move like one!**

_Amy and I are on the ground, looking back and forth from the mirror attached to the side of the house to each other. We look down at our hands. Then, in a classic Pokémon Mystery Dungeon moment, we freak out. Gandrayda, turning into a green two-headed alien named Swapper yet again, is laughing uncontrollably on the ground. Even Celebi has momentarily stopped hovering since she's laughing so much._

Amy and Me: AAAAAAAAAAAH!

Me: Gandrayda! This isn't funny!

Gandrayda (in that odd double-voice): Yes it is!

Amy: How'd you do this to us? Turn us back! Now!

Gandrayda: No way.

_She then morphs back into her original purple gelatin-humanoid form, towering over me. She bends down and smirks at us._

Gandrayda: You never know what Queen X can do. She could pull anything on you guys. Like this.

Celebi: And it works, too! Big Amy is Big Amy, and Little Amy is Little Amy!

Gandrayda: Besides, this is a chance for you to test out everything you've learned, right…Big Amy? *pfft*

Amy: Uh…yeah…?

_Both Gandrayda and Celebi burst out in laughter._

Me (getting suspicious): (Wait a second…this isn't just so that they can laugh at us too, now, is it…?)

_We both try to move. Amy (in MY original body, now!) is really wobbly, especially since she's not used to being a human that's 5'5" tall as opposed to 4'3". Meanwhile, I just look up at her, Gandrayda, and Celebi._

Amy: Hey…this isn't too bad!

Me: Speak for yourself. Why is everyone so freakin' high up? GAH!

Amy: Why don't you try jumping on my head? That helped me.

Me: Okay…

_She bends down (and falls in the process, but I catch her), and lets me jump on her head. Good thing I had such long hair that I could grab to clamber up there. She then stands up—and the speed and resulting height from the ground makes me feel dizzy, like it's a roller coaster! I hold tight for dear life._

Me: AAUUAAGH! B—Big Amy?

Amy: Yeah?

Me (teeth chattering): Don't…move…whatever you do…

Gandrayda and Celebi: Hi-YAH!

_They kick us! We fall down onto the ground, hard._

Amy: OOOW! Ow, ow, ow! Guys, what was that for?

Me: Hey…that didn't hurt as much as I thought it would! What is this? Rock?

_They finally can't take it and burst out laughing again._

Me (running out of patience): Hey, guys? That's **really** starting to get annoying, you know that?

Amy (starting to cry): Wh—why are you being so MEAN?

Me: I know, right? Are you **trying** to be like those meanie-butts?

Gandrayda (sarcastically): Which ones?

Amy: Team Skull!

Me: Zark and Zork!

Amy and Me: All of them!

Gandrayda and Celebi: …

_Long silence. A sly grin creeps onto Gandrayda's face, while Celebi just floats there, confused._

Me (blanching): (Aw, great…don't tell me…)

Celebi (whispering in Gandrayda's ear): …Uh, who are they, again?

Gandrayda: Teh Pirates Who Don't Do Nothin'. I know 'em really well. Lemme show ya.

_She morphs into the tall, thin Zark, freaking us out._

Gandrayda (as Zark): Whoa-ho! I'm Zark! Lookit dem n00bs! C? Dis is how u speek like dem.

Celebi: Really? Lemme try!

_She can't turn into Zork, obviously, so she instead tries to imitate their chatspeak vocal style. But…_

Celebi: "Whut in tarnation are them thar folk's doin'?" Hey! How come dis ain't workin' out right?

_Just then, Master Kel-Zich exits from the house and sees us._

Me: Master Kel-Zich! It's me, Amy [you know who]! Just don't freak out, okay? Our bodies got switched.

Master Kel-Zich: That is nice. Well! Why are you not dashing out to see your friend Kirby?

Amy and Me: HUH?

Master Kel-Zich: You would be halfway across the village by now, would you not? As for you, Amy [you know who], come inside. You too, Gandrayda and Celebi. We shall discuss her next task.

Amy: No, no, wait! **I'm** Amy Vee Purima! She's Amy [you know who]!

Me: (What the heck is going on in here?)

Master Kel-Zich: My goodness! It is not like you to play jokes like this. Very well. Oh, and by the way, you do not have to worry. Here he comes!

Kirby: Amy!

_Here comes the little blue puffball on the Winged Star…coming right towards me!_

Me: Whoa whoa whoa! Hang on, Kirby! **That** is Big Amy! **I** am Little Amy, see?

Kirby: Eh?

Amy: She's right! Don't you recognize me, Kirby? It's me, Big Amy!

_She jumps on the Slick Star expertly, but it doesn't take long for her to suddenly lose her balance and fall off. Kirby stares at us back and forth._

Kirby: Uh…no you're not. You're twying to be funny, wight?

_Then he turns to me and __pushes me onto the Slick Star._

Me: Whoa, wait! Hold on! I'm not supposed to—!

_I speed down the streets of the village on an almost-uncontrollable Slick Star, while Kirby speeds behind after me._

Me: WAAAAAAAAGH! (Why'd I ever say I wanted to ride an Air Ride Machine?)

**Lesson 2: Speaking of which…A true puffball knows how to ride an Air Ride Machine!**

_Kirby quickly catches up to me._

Me: H—hey, Kirby? How to I charge up a boost?

Kirby: I thought I towd you! Scwuch yoursewf down!

Me: Like this?

_To my surprise, I can flatten myself down just like Kirby. It's an odd, ticklish feeling. The Slick Star starts charging up a boost. Unfortunately, it's not really slowing down, so I aim myself in a random direction and pop back up. The boost propels me in that new direction._

Me: (Yes!) WOOHOO! (This is more fun than I thought I'd be! Guess all that Kirby Air Ride training really helps.) Hey, Kirby? Where exactly are we going?

Kirby: To the wacetwack! We're gonna wace again!

Me: (Uh-oh. I've never raced in my life!)

_Los-Nom and Plu-Thrim are on higher ground, stringing up the starting lights. Grovyle is next to a Jet Star and Chikorita is next to a Warp Star. I realize that the racetrack is very similar to the track I've always run on in the mornings for five miles straight. Wait...it IS right next to the running track!_

Me: Grovyle! Chikorita! It's me, Little Amy! Gandrayda switched our—LOOK OUT!

_I jump off the Slick Star, and Grovyle and Chikorita dodge just in time. It flies right into the wall, ricochets off, and smacks into my face._

Me: Ooooww…

Chikorita: Wait. Did you say…you are Little Amy?

Me: Uh, yeah?

Grovyle: Impossible. You have got to be kidding me.

Me: I'm not! Gandrayda switched us, but Master Kel-Zich doesn't know at all! I mean, I'll admit that being a Jigglypuff wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be, but…everything's so freakin' high up now, and these Air Riding Machines are insane! Speaking of which…why are you guys learning how to ride Air Ride Machines, anyway?

Chikorita: Masters Los-Nom and Plu-Thrim thought it'd be a good idea for us.

_She points up to where they are. Los-Nom is off to the side, using his tentacles to fiddle around with some device we can't see, while Plu-Thrim hangs above us, locking the lights into position._

Los-Nom: Children? Are you ready?

Kirby: YEAH!

Chikorita and Grovyle: Huh? Oh yeah, ready!

Me: Huh?

Plu-Thrim: Hop on your Slick Star, Big Amy.

Me: But I'm not—!

Plu-Thrim: I said, HOP ON!

Me: Okay, okay!

_What choice do I have? I jump onto the Slick Star. Oddly enough, it doesn't move. Then I realize that some odd mechanism underneath is pulling the machines into position. I'm on the left, Kirby's to my right, and Chikorita and Grovyle are even farther right. I look at them in confusion. They shrug._

Plu-Thrim: On my count, ready? Three, two, one, GO!

Me: (Aw, snaaaaaap!)

_Weeell…that actually wasn't too bad! (I got last place.) In the next race, I followed everything that Big Amy told me that she did (I got last place.), and in the race after that, I never fell off even once! (I still got last place again, and as you can imagine, I was about at the end of my rope by then.)_

**Lesson 3: A true puffball can float around in the air.**

_After all of that, Kirby bounces off the Winged Star._

Kirby: Amy, let's pway! Let's pway!

Me (insanely frustrated): Pway—*Ack!* *Blbbpt*—I mean, play what? (GAH! Now he's making **me** speak like Tweety from—Wait, **everyone** knows that he's from Looney Tunes!)

_Chikorita and Grovyle stifle laughter, but I ignore them. Kirby puffs himself up and flies high into the sky. I try jumping, but to no avail. I can't jump higher than one foot off the ground!_

Me: Hey! Kirby! WAIT UP!

Chikorita: Can't you do that like him?

Me: Huh? Well…maybe…

_I take a deep breath, jump…and start floating!_

Grovyle: You're doing it! You're doing it!

Me: Mmm-hmm! (Aargh. I can't talk like this! How am I supposed to go higher?)

_So I try to take in more air…but I end up releasing all of the air I've already built up. I fall to the ground. Luckily, it doesn't hurt._

Chikorita: Maybe you're breathing in too much?

Grovyle: Yeah, try smaller breaths or something.

Me: Oh yeah… (You're right…)

_And it's working! I rise higher and higher into the air, and soon, I catch up with Kirby. He then starts lowering towards a maze of really small tunnels. I look down, realize how high up I am…and accidentally release my breath!_

Me: AAAAAAAAAAH!

Kirby: Amy! Waaaaaiit uuuup!

_Yeah, he released his breath too. We fall and bonk someone on the head before landing on the ground._

Kirby, Samus, and me: Oooww…

Me (looking up): Samus? What are you doing here?

Samus: Well, what do you think?

_She gestures to the tracks, and as she does, I realize that she's in her Power Suit again. I groan._

**Lesson 4: A true puffball can squeeze into tiny spaces and move around like Samus' Morph Ball.**

Samus: Glad you guys are here. (There'd better be a good reason why Old Bird and Gray Voice ordered me to stop playing that DS and help you guys with this stuff.)

Me: Are we going to learn how to move through Morph Ball tunnels?

Samus: You catch on fast, Big Amy. But I thought that back on the Axiatomic Link—

Me: I'm not Big Amy. I'm Little Amy.

Samus (pauses): Say wha…?

Kirby: She's kidding! She's kidding! Aha, ahahahaha!

Me: WHAT? No, it's true! Gandrayda—

Samus: Yeah, yeah, whatever. So anyway, just follow my lead.

Me (angrily): (GAH! What is UP with everyone today?)

_She curls up into Morph Ball form and rolls through the tracks. I crawl in after her. After about 30 minutes of crawling, climbing, and Samus coaxing me into assuming the Rollout position (which I personally hate since I can't see where the heck I'm going), she rolls out of the maze, reverts back to normal, and presses a few buttons on the monitor._

Samus: (Did she really retrogress that badly? I wonder what's going on in here…) Good. Now time for a test. I want you to grab that Energy Tank at the end and bring it back within 10 minutes. Kirby, you're allowed to help.

Kirby: Yay!

_I stare where she's pointing; an alcove with a glowing Energy Tank tucked high into the cliff at the end of the maze. The maze comes to life, complete with steam vents, elevators, even walls that push in and out. I gulp._

Samus: You ready, Amy?

Me: Uh…y—yeah…?

Samus: GO!

_So I run. I crawl as fast as I can, with Kirby after me. I time my crawls to avoid being blasted out by the vents, and I climb the Spider Ball tracks without looking down. During the sections with whole walls that move forward and back, I tuck myself in and roll across as fast as I can, terrified that I'd fall. I wasn't sure how much time was left when I clamber onto the alcove and grab the Energy Tank, but somewhere on the way back, I slip and fall down._

Me: AAAH—!

_Right then, I feel a suction force. Kirby sucks me and the Energy Tank up! I can't see a thing in his mouth._

Me: Thanks, Kirby! Now GET ME OUTTA HERE!

_He shoots me down the tunnels, where I roll uncontrollably faster and faster. As I roll, I notice an odd sensation. Before I know it, I instinctively find my way back to the start and roll across it with the Energy Tank. I look at the clock. 25 seconds to spare._

Samus (stunned): …Whoa. I thought you couldn't see where you were going.

Me: I can't.

Samus: But then how…how did you cover that amount of distance in only 35 seconds when it took you 7 full minutes to get there?

Me: I dunno. Call me crazy, but…I think I'm actually starting to be able to sense where the tunnels are. Without my eyes.

Samus (pauses, then smiles): …Well, guess what, kid. Good job. In Space Warrior training, that's the most important sense you'll ever learn.

_At this point, Kirby finally crawls out and runs up to me. He presses a button on some CD player-like record he's been keeping somewhere on him, and it plays a tune I'm all-too-familiar with from every single Kirby game I've ever played._

**Lesson 5: A true puffball knows how to do…drumroll, please…the Kirby Dance!**

_Surprisingly enough, this is the easiest lesson ever._

**Gandrayda: Now if you follow all of these lessons…**

**Celebi: …it should look a little something like this:**

_That evening, Kirby and I race to the crystal in the center of the village on our Air Ride Machines. We both don't want to miss it. All the Chozo are there as usual, but Big Amy (in MY body), Chikorita, and Grovyle see us first._

Amy: Look! It's Little Amy and Kirby!

Me (whispering to Kirby): What should we do?

Kirby: Fowwow me.

Me: Okay…

_He jumps and holds his breath, floating over the awestruck crowd. I follow suit, though the Slick Star crashes into the Winged Star and skids so much that Grovyle has to attack them both to prevent them from crashing into the crowd. We gracefully land right in front of the crystal. Kirby starts playing the tune of his official dance with that record player he has. We dance, and after the full 30 seconds have passed, we finish it with a perfect ending pose. Everyone cheers._

Master Kel-Zich: Very good! Very good! You two have performed wonderfully. And I must congratulate you too, Amy [you know who], for adapting so quickly and expertly into being a Jigglypuff.

Everyone: HUH?

Me: Wait—wait—you knew Big Amy and I were switched the WHOLE TIME?

Amy: Why didn't you tell us?

Master Kel-Zich: Because. This was all a test.

Amy and me: A TEST?

Master Kel-Zich: Correct. It is true; we wanted to test your abilities to function optimally in a completely different body. But we also wanted you to develop the most important sense in becoming a Space Warrior…Your ability to sense the aura around you without your eyes.

Me: Like when I could tell where the walls were without even looking at them?

Amy: Oh yeah! I can do that already!

Samus (realizing the truth): So **that's **why…!

Master Kel-Zich: It is still important. Soon enough, with time, you will all learn that there is more to life than what you see with your eyes. Furthermore, you also needed to learn how to handle situations in which only you know the truth. You cannot expect that everyone you meet will understand or even believe your predicament. If you insist on such things, you will never truly be happy.

Grovyle: I understand. It happened to me too. Remember? With the Wanted Posters?

Amy and me (thinking back): Oh yeeeeeaaaaah…

Master Kel-Zich: But now you also understand what it is like to walk a mile in another's shoes, and because you're personalities are so similar, not many can believe when you switch bodies. But enough about that. How do you two like it?

Amy: It's not that different from when Celebi turns me into a human! Now it's really easy.

Me: Wait, so Celebi can turn ME into a—?

Celebi: Ala-kablooie!

_What do you know? She did. I am now 4'3", with green eyes and pink hair, wearing the outfit I had specially designed. Everyone's quiet. I look around at everyone._

Me: Hey…Everyone isn't quite as high up as they used to be!

_They all break down in laughter, including me. Finally, we recover._

Me: You know, Master Kel-Zich…I actually think I'd be just fine if I were to stay in this body for the next few weeks of training. What do you think, Big Amy? I mean, it makes sense, doesn't it, since I'm Little Amy and all?

Amy (thinks it over, then smiles): …I think that's a great idea.

_We hug._

Everyone else: Awwww! (That's so sweet!)

* * *

Just my luck.

I guess I should've realized it when the crowd stopped "Aww"-ing at us. One moment, I was the shorter of the two; the next, I was taller. I opened my eyes and stepped back, looking at myself again.

"Uh…Big Amy?"

"Yeah?"

"Why am I taller than you all of a sudden?"

We looked around. Everyone was stunned. But their eyes were focused on someone next to us. It was the two-headed little green alien.

"Gandrayda! Why?" I groaned. She giggled and turned back into her old self. Celebi flew up to her and announced, "It's done!" while grinning in odd triumph.

"Excellent," she replied.

"What? What's going on?" asked Big Amy.

Gandrayda and Celebi stepped in front of the giant crystal. Celebi held an odd hologram projector device in the shape of a CD, while Gandrayda announced, "Celebi and I have got a little something to show you."

"Oh, really? Show us, Gandrayda," encouraged Master Kel-Zich. Old Bird and Gray Voice nodded in encouragement.

Celebi pressed a button on the device, projecting an image into the crystal, which then refracted it into the sky. It was a video of the two of them standing in front of Master Kel-Zich's house. Our house. The Gandradyda and Celebi on the video introduced themselves.

"Yo, wassup? You all out there can call me Her Royal Awesome Highness Her Majesty Gandrayda Aramaiya Tsu'phonia Bkashlar the Number One Bounty Hunter of the Galactic Federation Now That They Fired Sammy For Me the First, Last, Best, and Only…Ph.D., M.D., B.A., and B.S., All in the Art of Stealth, Combat, and Everything. (And that's just the short version! BELIEVE IT!)"

"Hi! My name is…Celebi…the…uh… (Aw, man! Why can't my name be as long as Gandrayda's?)"

"And we are going to teach you…*gasp*…How to Be Puffball." The title materialized in big bold pink letters on the screen. In English, of course.

"Lesson 1: A true puffball knows how to move like one!"

The next image made Big Amy and me gasp in astonishment and outrage. It was us, and Gandrayda was switching us as Swapper! In fact, the whole video was comprised of everything we did earlier in the day! My anger flared. There was nothing worse than to be humiliated on public camera. Even if it was admittedly silly. My brother did that to me once, and I gave him a huge lesson for it. After all, I've seen too many cartoons where such horrible things happen to the unsuspecting innocent naïve main characters. Looked like I had to do the same for them.

I grouched, "Gandrayda…Celebi…You switched our bodies so you could make a video of us? Without OUR PERMISSION?"

Amy Purima added, "Wait. So this…was all…A PRANK?"

"Technically, I switched your souls, not your bodies, but…uh…yeah. Heh heh," chuckled Gandrayda nervously.

Celebi flew in close and whispered to her, "Run." She flew out of there, and Gandrayda cartwheeled after her.

"GET BACK HERE!" we shouted, running after them as fast as we could, climbing the houses and chasing them over the rooftops. The ever-gracious Chozo people started playing funny chase music and clapped in rhythm to it, laughing. Grovyle, Chikorita, and Samus all stood there, staring in disbelief. [But don't worry—as soon as the video stopped playing, my anger dissipated, and I realized how ludicrous the whole farce was…so we ran back and joined everyone in clapping to the music.]

* * *

_Meanwhile, Master Kel-Zich scribbles down something on a hologram note pad._

Master Kel-Zich (muttering to himself): Hmm…note to self. Have them work on Anger Management next time.

To be continued…

**Coming up next: Unfortunately, Gandrayda and Celebi will continue to annoy Amy and me for a long time to come. They're like a twisted fusion of the meanie-butts and Team Charm all over again! I find out that Samus' birthday is coming up fast, and guess who comes to ruin my surprise party with the Unbirthday Song? That's right. Not just those two ladies…but Master Kel-Zich, with a little something he likes to call…*gasp*…**The Transfusion**.**


	22. The Transfusion

Chapter 23: The Transfusion

It was the 7th day of training when I found out.

I was staggering back to the house with Big Amy when I overheard Master Kel-Zich talking to Old Bird and Gray Voice. "Did you realize? Samus Aran's birthday is coming up fast."

"July 11, correct?" asked Old Bird.

"That is correct. Poor girl. I have heard that the humans hold a kind of ritual to celebrate such an event. She never had even one."

I sped away before I could hear any more and dashed into the house. I grabbed my watch and checked the date. Only seven days away? Finally, Big Amy rolled in, out of breath. "Wha…why did you leave me behind, Little Amy?" she gasped.

I stood rooted to the spot. "Samus' birthday is seven days from now."

She stared at me in confusion. "Her what?"

"Her birthday. I just heard Master Kel-Zich, Old Bird, and Gray Voice talk about it. See, for humans, the day we were born is really special. Whenever that day comes up, we celebrate it with a ritual called a birthday party. But according to them...if I heard them right…Samus never had a birthday party in her life. Ever."

"Do you have one?"

"Yeah. November 13. That's uh…" I counted on my fingers. "One, two, three…about four months away. Wow. I'll be 19." I shivered at the thought.

"Do **I** have one?"

"Actually…you do. The records say that yours was April 25, remember?"

"No. I couldn't read it. Is this April 25 close by?"

"Sorry. That was, uh…one, two…about three months ago. Today is July 3."

"So what are you going to do now?"

I flomped on the bed and stared up at the stars in the sky for a while before responding. "…Maybe I should throw her a surprise party. I mean, I still have to thank her for saving our lives from the X Parasites. If it weren't for her help, we'd all be dead right now."

She flomped down on the pillow next to my head. "…Yeah. You're right. What do we need?"

"Lots of stuff. Cake, balloons, presents, candles…but I'm not sure if this village even has all that stuff. True, they had that hair-lengthening thingy and that instant-sewing machine, but I'm not sure if they have stuff for actual birthday parties."

"We could check tomorrow. What do you say, Little Amy?"

"…I think that's a great idea. But this has to be a surprise. So don't tell anyone else, okay?"

"Okay!"

The next morning, when I got a chance (which was between training sessions) I knocked on Shining Flame's door and asked her if she had any party items. To my surprise, she did.

"Does someone have a birthday coming up?" she politely asked.

I leaned in close and whispered, "Yeah. Samus Aran's. I want it to be a surprise, so don't tell anyone, okay?"

She smiled. "That is acceptable. What flavor of cake does she like?"

I paused. "I was going to ask you that. I honestly don't know."

"Then perhaps your favorite flavor should do."

I thought a bit before shrugging my shoulders. "…Okay. Hope she likes strawberry cake with vanilla icing."

In addition to an entire cake-making set, she also had banners, plastic utensils, cups and trays, number candles, party hats, Party Balls, and plastic balloons. Yes! I was so impressed. The plastic kind of balloons were the ones that didn't pop if you stuck a fork through one, unlike the normal rubber ones. I hated it whenever a balloon popped—it would blast my eardrums so hard, it wasn't even funny.

"Thank you SO…SO, much! Jeez, what should I do to pay you back—?"

She laughed. "Do not worry about it. Just an invitation will do."

I stuffed all of the necessary items in my backpack and carted them off to my room in Master Kel-Zich's house before hurrying to my next training session. At lunch, I decided to let Grovyle and Chikorita in on the secret, as I wanted them to be involved in the grand unveiling. I whispered as quietly as I could.

After I collected all of the necessary banners and items, I decorated the doorway of Old Bird and Gray Voice's house, where Samus would surely come through, making sure to hide them properly anywhere I could. I made sure not to forget to tie the Party Ball on the ceiling. Right when I was about to leave, something pounced on me. It was an Ing from Metroid Prime 2: Echoes!

"AAAH!" I shouted. I quickly got a hold of myself and kicked it off of me. I opened the door—and ran right smack into Celebi.

"Ooow…" they both groaned. The Ing morphed into…Gandrayda. "I gotta admit, kid," she remarked, "Your reflexes are getting better."

"Wha—wha—what are you guys doing here?" I sputtered.

Celebi flew in my face and retorted, "I think a better question would be, what the heck are **you** doing here, **skipping out on your training?**"

"But—but it's not gonna start for another two min—"

Gandrayda looked up at the Party Ball and pointed at it, asking, "Hey, what's that?"

My heart raced. I didn't want them to find out and spoil the surprise. "Ah…nothing—!"

"It's not a BOMB for Sammy, is it, you naughty little girl?"

Celebi sang, "Bad girl! Bad girl! La la la la laaa, la!" like those hyenas from The Lion King.

I couldn't take it anymore. It was like 4th grade bully torture all over again. "N—no, wait! It's supposed to be a surprise!"

Gandrayda morphed into a Kinecelleran (an insanely fast blue Velociraptor-alien from Ben 10) and skated all over the room in half a second, quickly finding everything I'd stashed. She spoke really quickly. "Oooh, birthday stuff! Why didn't you say so?"

"Uh—"

"That reminds me! Sammy's birthday is only six days away! So why are you—no, no, don't tell me! Today must be her unbirthday!"

I stared. "…What?"

"What's an unbirthday?" asked Celebi.

"Today's your unbirthday too! And your's, and mine, and everyone else's here! Why don't I explain later? Okay? See ya!" She sped out of there within 0.1 seconds. Celebi flew after her, shouting "Wait for me!" Then she turned my way and taunted, "Hey, no skipping, bad girl! Last one there is a—"

"GET BACK HERE!" I shouted, chasing after them. I got a sinking feeling about "later".

Turned out that "later" was at the song-and-dance ritual that evening. Everyone was there as usual. Samus, Big Amy, Chikorita, Grovyle, Kirby, Los-Nom, Plu-Thrim, Old Bird, Gray Voice, Master Kel-Zich…even Adam landed nearby to supervise. But Gandrayda and Celebi weren't. The usual Chozo started the ceremony with their drumming, when Gandrayda cartwheeled over everyone's heads and landed in the center. Celebi flew in after her. They sang:

Gandrayda: A…very merry unbirthday, to me!

Celebi: To who?

Gandrayda: To me!

Celebi: Oh, you.

Gandrayda: A very merry unbirthday, to you!

Celebi: Who me?

Gandrayda: Yes you!

Celebi: Oh me.

Gandrayda: Let's all congratulate us with another cup of tea, a very merry unbirthday to WHOOOOOO? YOOOOU!

We all stood there in shock and confusion. I wondered where the heck they got the teacups from. Maybe they ran to the Alice in Wonderland world and swiped them from the Mad Hatter. Hey, this was my universe, right? Finally, Big Amy asked, "What the heck is an unbirthday?"

"Yeah, what is it?" added Grovyle and Chikorita.

Gandrayda explained, "Now you know how you only have one birthday every year, right?"

"Yeeeeeaaaaah?" I affirmed, purposely drawing out the sound to emphasize my chagrin. I couldn't believe it. At this rate, Samus was going to know what was coming, and that would spoil my surprise. But I couldn't stop them at this point. The Pokémon wanted to know, and all the Chozo were having too much fun.

"Shut it, bad girl. Not everyone's a know-it-all like you," poked Celebi.

"But there are 364 unbirthdays, because there are 365 days in a year! See? You have an unbirthday for each and every day you don't have a birthday!" explained Gandrayda triumphantly.

Everyone started remarking on how today was their unbirthday too. But I had to interrupt. "Wait. That's 365 **Earth** days, right? What about here?"

Old Bird explained, "Do not worry, child. Planet Chozodia has the exact same revolution as Earth—or should I say, Capital Planet. We use the same temporal measurements as you."

"Oooooooh. I get it." I really did.

They whipped out several pieces of cake with candles on them and handed them out to us, while singing:

Gandrayda: A…very merry unbirthday,

Everyone: To me?

Celebi: To you!

Gandrayda: A very merry unbirthday,

Everyone: For me?

Gandrayda: For you!

Celebi: Now blow the candles out right here and make your wish come true!

So we did. Predictably, every single piece of cake turned into fireworks and launched into the sky. Gandrayda and Celebi concluded their song. "A happy Independence Day…to YOOOOU!"

Huh?

"Independence Day? You know about that?" I asked, incredulously.

"No duh. Everyone around here knows all of your Earth holidays," replied Gandrayda in a snotty know-it-all tone of voice. What a hypocrite.

I checked my watch. It **was **the 4th of July. There were no dormice coming from the fireworks, but they all formed such words as "Independence Day" and "Happy 4th of July!" I thought back to my old life back on Earth…and a wave of longing swept over me. This was around the time that my family would be going to Ocean City for a vacation, from July 1 to July 5, 2010, if I remembered correctly. If only I didn't stow away on Samus' ship, I'd be with my family right now, watching the fireworks from the beachfront house. My mom, dad, and brother…I wondered if I'd ever see them again.

The days passed. I did my best with my Pokémon friends to rehearse the surprise party for Samus. But it seemed that one night wasn't enough for those mean girls. They sang the Unbirthday Song **every single night!** (The only difference, obviously, was that they'd end with "A very merry unbirthday…to YOOOOU!") Every time, I'd get more discouraged. I was sure that Samus would figure out before long.

Even so, on the night of July 10, the eve of her birthday, I managed to bake the round double-layered strawberry cake without burning it. It was in Shining Flame's house, and Big Amy watched me in awe, helping draw pictures on some of the streamers and napkins. After the cake cooled, I added the vanilla-flavored icing, and ten strawberries around the border, evenly spaced. (It was a cake big enough for ten people to have one big slice!) Finally, I stuck two big number candles in the center, 2 and 6. Twenty-six. I gazed at my handiwork and sighed.

"What's wrong, Little Amy?"

"Oh, nothing. Just thinking."

"About what?"

"Back at home, I found that most people stop celebrating their birthdays around the ages 14 to 18. And Samus is turning 26! I hope this goes well…"

"How about you?"

"Oh, me? I'm 18. **That** party didn't go so well. I'm actually thinking about never having another party ever again. They used to be fun, but I can't seem to make them fun anymore."

"…You know what? I've never had a birthday party, either."

"Really? Oh yeah, I knew that. But…" I shuddered. "Your birthday already passed. What do we do?"

"Celebrate it the same time as Samus'?"

"…That could work. But…I'm not really sure if you'd be 10 or 12, since you kinda don't age when you're a Jigglypuff."

"Doesn't matter! I want a party too, with cake and presents and stuff!"

We slid the cake into the heat-trapping machine in order to keep it warm for tomorrow. We then walked back home and flomped down on the bed. Before we fell asleep, though, Big Amy had one more question to ask.

"If you can celebrate my birthday too, maybe you could celebrate Chikorita's and Grovyle's, too. I wonder how old they'd be…"

"If you're 10, I always guessed that Chikorita would be 11, and Grovyle would be 17. But that's just judging by the way they act. I have no idea what their real ages are."

We thought over things like that before we fell asleep. I was so excited and nervous at the same time. I hoped the surprise would go well.

The next morning, we put the plan into action. We woke up at 5:15 am, snuck out of Master Kel-Zich's house, snuck into Shining Flame's house, and slid the cake out. I carried the cake to Old Bird, Gray Voice, and Samus' house, where we met with Chikorita and Grovyle. It looked like everything was ready. As soon as Samus came downstairs, we would turn on the lights and deploy the surprise.

That was when Master Kel-Zich ruined it all.

"Children? What are you doing here?"

We turned around. He opened the doorway and was standing in it. "What are you doing here?" I whispered frightfully, worried that he was actually Gandrayda in disguise. Nothing was beneath her now.

"Do not worry. I am not Gandrayda. I have merely been looking for the four of you."

"What for?" asked Grovyle.

"I need to run a growth analysis scan on you all. It shall only take a moment."

"Can't you wait for a few seconds?" pleaded Chikorita in desperation.

"NO. Now follow me."

"But—but—Master Kel-Zich, why is this so important?" I asked.

He shook his head in aggravation and huffed, "Amy [you know who]…" Uh-oh. This couldn't be good if he was using my full name like that. "Do you want to have a chance to survive Queen X's wrath?"

"Well—yeah—but—"

"Do you** want** to **survive** against Queen X or **not?"**

"I do! I do! I just don't get why—"

"Then** follow** me!" Sheesh. What was wrong with him this morning?

What choice did we have? We followed him back to his house. Our house. Specifically, into the whitewashed laboratory basement loaded with scientific equipment. We stepped into the scanning booths and waited there for several minutes. I groaned. At this rate, we'd miss our chance to surprise Samus.

Finally, he finished. But he only turned to me. "Amy [you know who]? You are making excellent progress. After only two weeks, you have gained the necessary 50% growth increase for muscle mass, mental acuity, reflex timing, and endurance."

"Uh…thank you, sir."

"Therefore, I have a proposition. I firmly believe that you are now capable of handling a transfusion…" He paused. I held my breath. "…of Ylla warrior DNA."

I stared at him, dumbfounded. "Huh? You serious? **Ylla warrior DNA?** You mean like how Samus received Chozo warrior—okay, Gray Voice's—DNA?"

"What is it? What's that supposed to mean?" whispered Big Amy.

"Battle power-wise; you are the weakest link among your friends. This DNA shall grant you the necessary abilities to hold your own in a fight. But such power cannot be given lightly to any normal human. It takes a considerable level of strength, stamina, and will to survive the transfusion, and two more weeks to fully hone its powers after that. Because we only have two more weeks of training left, you must decide. Will you take it?"

I thought long and hard. There was Samus' surprise party that we were probably already too late for. But at least we had all day. Maybe when she comes back. Besides, it was just a really quick transfusion, wasn't it?

"…Will it really give me a chance of beating Queen X?"

"It shall be your **only** chance of defeating Queen X."

"…Then I'll do it," I asserted, in all seriousness.

"Very well. Come this way."

I followed him to the other end of the room and sat down on the operating table. He pulled out a syringe filled with glowing radiant white liquid. It was truly magical.

I rolled up the sleeve of my sailor school uniform I wore every day. "A needle, huh? Nothing I can't handle." It was true. I got a few vaccinations for random things like H1N1 virus, as well as a few blood tests back on Earth, and they were all needles. None of them actually hurt that much at all. And it was only for a few seconds at most. What could go wrong?

He injected the whole thing into my right shoulder for a few seconds before removing it. My Pokémon friends gasped, and Big Amy and Chikorita even covered their mouths in horror. "It's okay, guys. It was just a little prick." I reassured them. It was true. It really didn't hurt. But I was confused as to why Master Kel-Zich floated backwards to them…away from me. Almost as if he was waiting for something to happen. "Master Kel-Zich? What's wrong?"

It happened.

A sharp pain in the form of a brilliant white light ripped through my arm, across my chest, and through the other arm. I fell on the floor in total agony. "WHA…WHA…WHAT IS THIS?" I shouted.

"I told you! Ylla DNA is **very **different from human DNA! Not many can survive the transfusion!"

"Then WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?"

"Because I know you can survive! Just focus! FOCUS!"

Focus on what? On the pain? I haven't felt this much pain since Grovyle slashed me over and over again two weeks ago. Right then, Chikorita asked, "Master Kel-Zich! How long will this take?"

"About four hours, give or take a few! It is a slow and brutal process, but necessary!"

FOUR hours or more?

"AAAAAGH!" It wasn't just me; it was Big Amy too. "No! Not again!" wailed Chikorita.

"I don't understand! Why is she being hurt too?" asked Grovyle.

"It cannot be what I think it could be…" Master Kel-Zich pushed Big Amy over to me and whispered to her, "Perhaps you could help her?" She nodded vigorously and bounced into my arms.

Her fluffiness was enough to alleviate the pain, but only temporarily. The light of pain continued to sear through my whole body, and it was only getting stronger. In fact, it was getting the strongest around my back, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. One, then two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight of them. Were they Ylla wings? They must have been. They were way too small for me to see, but I was sure of it. They continued to grow, grow and grow. Grovyle, Chikorita, and Master Kel-Zich backed away to the stairs, shielding their eyes from the light. I squeezed my eyes shut. It felt like something was going to explode inside my stomach.

Master Kel-Zich ordered to Grovyle and Chikorita, "You two! RUN!"

An explosion of light emerged from my wings and my whole body, blowing up a huge hole in the house in the process. Amazingly enough, Big Amy wasn't hurt at all. But I felt like I had to move those wings, or the pain would only intensify. I had no choice. I flapped them once, twice, three times, until I finally came off the ground, carrying Big Amy with me.

"YEEEAARGH!" I exclaimed as I flew straight up from the village into the atmosphere. I couldn't control them at all. I could easily crash into something. To top it off, I had no experience with flying at all. The heights…the heights! The pain never went away. I could only fly, fly, fly, and wait it out. After all, it had only been five minutes at most. This was four hours or more. What else could I do?

The whole time, as we flew, we hung onto each other. Big Amy kept reassuring me, "Come on, Little Amy! Fight it, fight it! This is nothing! Grovyle hurt you way worse than this, remember? Just don't die! Please please please please PLEASE don't die! We've still got to throw that surprise party for Samus, remember? And—and—stop Queen X and Zoroark and those meanie-butts once and for all! And those song and dances, remember? I still haven't sung my favorite song for you yet! We'll go on adventures to other planets, and meet new aliens, and be friends forever! Remember? Friends FOREVER!" She wailed for the rest of the time from the pain at this point, but then always managed to gasp out a few more things. "I've never had a birthday party in my whole entire life! I want to celebrate your birthday too! Don't go, Amy! I know you never meant to hurt me! **You're the best friend I've ever had!** **EVER!"**

_A pterodactyl-like creature with steely bones, dark armor, a long, segmented tail, and glowing red eyes is flying through the deep depths of space. He is Ridley-X, the same X-Parasite-infected Ridley from the BSL Research Station. Apparently, not only did some X Parasites of him survive the crash, they also re-formed him. Now he just flew into the Oort Nebula, where he smells something._

Ridley X: (Metroid DNA? Thisss far out? Guess they're not ssso extinct after all.)

_He flies in for a closer look, using his long snout to guide him. Finally, he sees Planet Chozodia._

Ridley X: (What do you know? A hidden planet. Yeesh, that reeks. They really know how to conceal themssselves. Time for me to eradicate this menaccce…onccce…and for all!)

_He tests out his Flamethrower, even though it doesn't get very far past his breathing apparatus._

Ridley X: (Long live the X Parasssite Empire!)

I didn't know how I would've gotten along without Big Amy's help. She helped me focus on all the little things that made life worth living. She told me stories…stories of everything she remembered since regaining all of her lost memories. She told me about all the little events that we never saw when we were trapped in her memories…the times the Porygon transported them to the other islands of the dark future…the times she and Grovyle found time to play…the times the Planetary Exploration Team, Master Wigglytuff the 7th, and all of those Jigglypuff's sang and danced and allowed them to have fun…the times when Grovyle told her to never give up. In the same way he pulled her through, she pulled me through too. Then she shouted, "Little Amy, look out! It's Ridley!"

"Ridley?" I exclaimed.

I dodged out of the way just in time, and looked up. Against the bright sun was a figure of a giant blackish-purple pterodactyl creature. She was right. That **was** Ridley. But what the heck was he doing here? And did Big Amy fight him before? She must have, probably back over at the Space Pirate Homeworld. How else would she know him already?

"Little Metroids…heheheh…okay, sssso maybe you're not really Metroids, but…sssad to sssay, ssssee ya! Heheheheh!" he hissed. What a deranged guy! Not only did he speak like a snake, he had to chuckle maniacally once every few words. And how the heck did he know we were part-Metroid? He shot a Flamethrower from his mouth at us, and we barely dodged it, but I could still feel the super-intense heat emitting from it. Oh yeah, I just remembered. Our Metroid DNA made us super-weak to extreme heat and cold now.

So there we were, flying through the clouds, high above the ground, through extremely cold air, with little oxygen, dodging a crazed Space Pirate general's Flamethrowers, all while wracked with constant pain. How was I supposed to fight him? I mean, I didn't have any Super Missiles or Diffusion Missiles or whatever Samus used to defeat him!

It quickly turned into a chase scene. I could barely see where I was going. I zoomed in every possible random direction and even looped around a few times, all the while hoping to lose him. Even Big Amy helped by shooting Hyper Voice attacks at the guy, but no matter what we did, he was never far behind. Soon, I couldn't see anything at all. We were blundering through a dark, thick cloud, with no visibility. Maybe we could lose him in here.

I quickly found out how wrong I was. As soon as we got out, he was waiting there just for us. "AAAH!" we exclaimed. I tried to turn back, but his clawed hand clamped around us, squeezing us in place.

He licked his lips, and remarked to no one in particular, "Metroid barbeque. Gotta love 'em. Heheheh." He clenched us even harder, squeezing out any air we had to respond. It was hard enough to breathe all the way up here; it was almost impossible with him squeezing us. He sucked in the rest of the air to charge up his Flamethrower. We coughed and wheezed, but it was like a vacuum. I felt like I was about to faint. What a sick situation. If he didn't suffocate us, he's fry us.

Even so, part of me began to fight back. I screamed inside about how unfair it all was. All I wanted was to give Samus the first birthday party she'd ever have. I didn't ask for this. I didn't want to die like this, where no one would know the truth. The pain built up to the point where I'd explode again. Ridley had one final word to deliver. "Now where have I sssseen thisss before, hmm? Oh yessss. That Samus Aran, when I almossst finished her off. Perhapsss she is sssstill part Metroid? If she is…well, then…heheheh…I'll finish her off next!"

That did it. There was no way I would let this maniac hurt my friends. Especially not Samus.

There was an explosion of light and heat. I slowly opened my eyes. I was still alive. Ridley screamed in pain as flames erupted all around him. Did my power just release an explosion again? Maybe it was actually stronger than the Flamethrower and sent both attacks right back at him. "Curssse you, little Metroids…CUUURSSSE YOOUUU!" His body completely disintegrated, releasing us, and became kind of a gelatin-like liquid. It shrunk to form…

"Oh, no…" I gasped. I then realized exactly why he was so obsessed with us being part-Metroid.

"What?" asked Big Amy.

It was a Core-X, a huge spiny floating ball teeming with orange gelatinous X Parasites…and it was floating away from us to the ground below. I dive-bombed after it.

"That wasn't Ridley—that was Ridley-X!" I explained.

"What's the difference?" she pressed.

"He's an X Parasite! Maybe Queen X already found where we were! Quick, Big Amy! Attack it! **We can't let it reach the village!**"

She shot Hyper Voice after Hyper Voice at it, but to no effect, as the sound waves merely bounced off. I told her to stop for a moment. Sure enough, a single nasty eye opened up on that thing, charging up another Flamethrower. "It's the eye! Shoot it!" I ordered.

She did. Direct hit! We barely dodged the Flamethrower in time. Sneaky Core-X. Even after being released from its host, it could still use some of Ridley's powers. We plunged after it, keeping up with the attacks whenever its eye would open. Finally, after one more blast, the spiny outer shell broke! I chased after it and grabbed at the huge blob inside, absorbing its energy. A wave of relief washed over my body. I didn't care that I couldn't gain the Screw Attack power that Samus regained after she fought this guy in Metroid Fusion, because finally, the pain was beginning to die down!

Then I looked down and gasped.

We were floating right above Yamamori Village. And unfortunately for us, there were still several X Parasites that escaped from the Core-X flying around, zooming their way right into the streets. "AAAH!" I panicked. "They're going to infect everyone!"

I zoomed in front of the farthest ones I could find, barely absorbing them in time. Sometimes I would absorb them, and sometimes I had to throw Big Amy to absorb others. I saved several Chozo lives, from elders to little kids. But there were some that were just too far away. I could only watch in horror as some headed straight for Old Bird and Gray Voice's house…

…and Samus somersaulted right in front of them, absorbing them for me. She ordered to Chikorita and Grovyle, "See what I did? Now go and save everyone! NOW!" They ran throughout the village, saving several other Chozo villagers from infection. But I couldn't sigh in relief just yet. A whole swarm of them made a beeline straight for… "Master Kel-Zich! LOOK OUT!" I shouted.

It was like a slow motion movie. He barely turned his head when they were right on top of him. In sheer desperation, even though I knew I'd never make it in time, I launched myself right in between them anyway…

And I made it.

They were inches away from his face, and I absorbed every single one of them. I wasn't sure how I launched myself 50 meters or so in only half a second, but I didn't care. With this final energy absorption, the pain completely went away. I looked around the village and sighed in relief. Samus, Grovyle, and Chikorita absorbed the rest of the X Parasites, and no one was infected. Awesome. As I descended to the ground in front of an incredulous Master Kel-Zich who was still at a loss for words, Big Amy pointed out to me, "Hey…you're wings are pink now, Little Amy. And…it doesn't hurt anymore!"

I collapsed on the ground, my eyes heavy from sheer exhaustion. I managed to glance at my wings and found that they were indeed pink instead of white before conking out.

"Amy [you know who]? Are you okay?"

"Uuugh…" I rubbed my eyes and blinked them open. I was lying back in bed along with Big Amy. I saw Master Kel-Zich against the sky, which by now was evening. "Y—yeah…" I responded. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Ten hours." I quickly checked my watch. He was right. It was 7:52 pm. He explained for me, "Those that survive the transfusion typically need that long to allow time for complete tissue integration."

Then Big Amy woke up too. "Wha…what happened?" she asked.

He explained, "We have all been fixing the houses that were broken. But what we would like to know is, how did X Parasites get here?"

So we told him about how Ridley-X came from nowhere and started attacking us. By the end, he nodded and reassured us, "I see. But since you absorbed every single X Parasite, Queen X will probably not be alerted."

"That's good…" I sighed. I then remembered something really important and leapt out of bed, rushing down the stairs, making sure to drag Big Amy along with me.

"Wait! Where are you going?" he asked.

"Samus' surprise party!" I shouted back, and was out the door.

I couldn't believe I'd slept in that long. Samus usually came back to Old Bird and Gray Voice's house around 8:00, and it was already 7:55 pm. There was only five more minutes before I lost my chance to still make my plan work.

Right then, we ran right past Chikorita and Grovyle. They started to pester me with questions about what happened, but I waved them off with, "Hurry up and get into position! The surprise party, remember?" They looked at me like I was crazy, but followed me anyway. Luckily, Big Amy was able to explain along the way. We burst into the house just in time. 7:59. After we hurried into our positions in the darkness of the house, we only had to wait a tense 10 seconds before Samus opened the door, sighing.

"SURPRISE!" we shouted, turning on the lights, activating party poppers and blowing on our noisemakers (like air horns). "Happy Birthday, Samus!"

"What the—?" she sputtered as she staggered back right into the door, smacking into the lever that would release the Party Ball. It was about to land on her head when from out of nowhere, we heard a voice shout, "Hi-YAH!" It was Gandrayda. She kicked the Party Ball, and it opened, Super Smash Bros. style, to reveal a horde of…

"AAAH! BOB-OMBS!" I exclaimed in shock. I dragged Samus out of the way just as the Bob-Ombs hit the ground and exploded to reveal…the real party favors, including food, confetti, and piñatas. "Okay…" I gasped. "Who rigged the Party Ball?" I mean, I already checked it, and it never had any Bob-Ombs to begin with!

"Bad girl, bad girl, la la la la la, la!" Celebi flew in, and we glared at her. "What?" she asked innocently. "I asked if it was a bomb, remember?"

Gandrayda leaned in close to her and whispered, "Run." They did, leaving us staring after them in confusion. Finally, Samus looked around the decorated living room, turned to us, and asked me, "So what the heck is all this about?"

I sighed in relief. It looked like Celebi and Gandrayda's unbirthday songs didn't make her suspect anything after all. I explained, "Today's your birthday, isn't it? See, we've heard that you've never had a birthday party in your life, and…since you saved our lives…we wanted to make it up to you somehow." My Pokémon friends nodded in agreement.

She was awestruck. "So this is what a real birthday is like…"

"Yeah. I even baked a cake for you. See?" I did my best to light a match without burning myself and lit the two candles which spelled 26. Then I sat at the table and requested, "Come on. You can sit over here." She sat at the head of the table in the biggest chair, still at a loss for words. My Pokémon friends sat down too. "Okay, everyone, ready? Three, two, one, go!" We then sang the ever-famous song that even I could get in perfect pitch.

_Happy birthday to you,  
Happy birthday to you!  
Happy birthday dear Samus,  
Happy birthday to you!_

It was a welcome change of pace from the Unbirthday Song. To my surprise, Old Bird and Gray Voice came downstairs and sang it too, and not just them, but so did all of the other villagers, whom happened to gather around the house without my noticing them. Samus just stared at the candles and asked, "…So what am I supposed to do?"

"Make a wish—in your head, of course—and then try to blow both candles out at once!" I explained. She took a deep breath and blew the candles so hard, she almost blew them off the cake altogether. "YAAAY!" we all cheered and clapped, and so did everyone else.

"Wha—what's so great about that?" she wondered.

"If you blow out all the candles like you just did, it means your wish will come true!" I explained.

"I mean…This is insane! You just spent 4 hours in agonizing pain, fought **Ridley-X** of all people, barely saved everyone from the X Parasites, blacked out for 10 hours after that…and you still did all of this…for me?"

"Hey, I've been planning this for a week now. I'm not the kind of person who cancels plans because of little unexpected things like transfusions and Ridley-X's," I replied in the most modest way I could, though it was pretty clear to everyone else how much irony I was emitting.

Master Kel-Zich floated into the room. "A trait that you have proven exemplary in." We turned around.

Big Amy asked him, "Wait. How did you know about this…?"

Old Bird explained, "This was all a test, of course. We deliberately let you eavesdrop on our conversation so that you would plan a surprise party for Samus. We also deliberately made Samus' birthday the day of your transfusion, too. All to test the strength of your will. But though we did not anticipate the arrival of Ridley-X, you have still performed above and beyond. Well done, Amy [you know who]. You make Azelf proud."

Big Amy, Chikorita, and I turned to each other. "…Azelf!" We remembered the guy. It was amazing how all of these ancient, wise people knew each other. Grovyle cringed. I was sure how he remembered trying to *steal* a Time Gear from that guy and...yeah...

"Grandpa, Father…you knew when my birthday was? And you never gave me a party?" asked Samus in a crushed tone of voice.

"We are sorry, Samus," apologized Gray Voice in dismay. "Since we Chozo have lived so long, we have never celebrated such events anymore."

"Yes…I, too, can relate," Master Kel-Zich mused.

"Really? How old ARE you, anyway?" I asked.

"In Earth years?" He counted in his head for a few seconds before replying, "782 years old."

Our jaws dropped. I was flabbergasted, "782 years? You were around when I was born, then! Like, before I came to the future!"

"Us too!" chimed in Team Pecha.

"Oh, yes…you are all correct…hahaha…" he muttered sheepishly. Everyone laughed.

I then sliced the cake. Or at least I started to, but Grovyle quickly jumped in to help me out. Big Amy and Chikorita loved it, of course, but I was surprised to see that Samus liked it too! Apparently, all the Chozo outside made cakes of their own to share with everyone. We went outside to the crystal in the center of town to enjoy more music and dancing. Gandrayda and Celebi finally sang the real birthday song. We even played the Kick the Piñata Open and Catch the Candy game.

I sat down for a rest and vaguely whispered, "Huh. I wonder which Ylla warrior that DNA came from…"

Master Kel-Zich happened to overhear and casually mentioned, "Only the most powerful warrior there ever lived." He then whispered in the sneakiest voice he could, "That means me."

As he floated away, I scrambled to catch up to him, flabbergasted. "Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa WHOA, whoa! So you're telling me that, if Samus has Gray Voice's DNA…and she calls him 'Father'…does that mean…you're now my…sort-of…dad?"

"Do not worry, child." He ruffled my hair. "You have already made your old man proud." With that, he floated away and started up a chat with Old Bird and Gray Voice, leaving me there, stunned. This was huge. I had all of his powers now. I mean, my real dad was smart enough, but Master Kel-Zich? First Master, now Father? That was getting way too weird. I wanted to faint right then and there in shock and awe, but I couldn't, so I shook the thought out of my head and joined the circle of villagers around the crystal just in time for the next song.

Finally, there came the time to open the presents. Big Amy presented Samus with a basket of assorted berries, especially Pecha Berries. Chikorita gave her a Sky Gift box that apparently contained an IQ Booster ("Hmm…I wonder if I'll really need this…" she remarked.) Grovyle's present was a Macho Brace that Samus wondered if it really worked on humans as well as Pokémon. And the only gift I could give…well…were a few pictures of mine that I drew over the past few days.

Samus was still taking it all in. "26 years…and no one has ever done anything like this for me. Ever."

"You're the best bounty hunter in the galaxy. I've always wanted to do something like this for you." I reassured her. "I'm sorry I didn't have a better present for you…but…"

"Don't be silly, kid," she sniffed. "Seeing you here, alive, with us…and seeing how you did all of this for me, despite everything you went through…is the only present I need. I'm glad I saved your lives. I'm glad I could finally do…the right thing." I was pretty sure Grovyle's heart skipped a beat right then in recognition.

Then she hugged me. Even Grovyle couldn't take it anymore and hugged me too. "Yay! Group hug!" shouted Chikorita, and Team Pecha joined in too. Everyone else went, "Awww…!" I was overcome. This was among those rare, precious, magic moments I'd always been seeking…been fighting for. And in that moment, surrounded by the love I'd never known that was there the whole time…I knew that we'd be friends forever. And with my new Ylla warrior DNA, I would be sure to protect them no matter what.

To be continued…

**Coming up next: Well, the party was a success…but those meanie-butts Celebi and Gandrayda just won't leave me alone. Not by a long shot. The Starfall Festival is coming really soon…and for whatever insane reason, they're trying to get Grovyle to like ME! WHAT? They are so **Opening Up A Can of Worms** that I'd really really really really REALLY rather not touch with a 10-foot pole!**


	23. The Heroes of Space

Chapter 23: The Heroes of Space

The next day was absolutely amazing. I was dragging on that annoyingly heavy training suit that made annoying Game Boy noises when Master Kel-Zich yanked it away from me, saying, "Oh no, child. Today, you shall train without it." I was confused, but I quickly agreed. The moment I started running those five laps around Yamamori Village, I ran so fast, I was pretty sure it was at least twice as fast as my top speed at the Pokéathlon Contest. Then when more of those Vulpimancer creatures pounced on me, I ended up crashing right through them in a blast of energy, totally frying them and knocking them out cold.

"You see, Amy? That is the power of a Ylla warrior! Your energy activates in response to your emotional states, so you must use extreme caution!"

I vowed to keep that in mind. I honestly did. But the power also had one additional unexpected side effect. "Master Kel-Zich! I can't stop myself!" I shouted, my legs still moving way past the fifth lap.

It actually wasn't that hard to stop. Master Kel-Zich explained that because I wore that training suit all the time, I became used to its cumbersome weight. Now with it gone, there was no more restraint, so I could suddenly move way faster than I ever could before.

The surprises continued throughout the day. I could perform complex math calculations in my head without the use of a calculator. My brain could think of snappy responses to questions in less than half a second, unlike the full minute it normally took. I could almost jump as high as Samus. And the usually nasty-tasting glowing pink fruit that Master Kel-Zich seemed to like suddenly became…better than cake and ice cream. My routine also changed a bit. In addition to everything else, he made me practice how to handle those eight pink glowing wings I could activate and fold back at will. I was blown away. I absolutely loved every moment of it. Big Amy, Chikorita, and even Grovyle were all thrilled at how I could fight just as well as them, if not better. I was now both part-Metroid and part-Ylla, though I wasn't sure why the Metroid DNA didn't give me any boost in fighting power (other than absorbing X Parasites, of course) while the Ylla DNA did, but I didn't care. I was in heaven!

We really buckled down and focused throughout the last two weeks of our training, making as much progress as we could to face the final test in the best shape we could. The last week especially was pretty stormy, too. We realized how lucky we were that the weather was pleasant for three weeks in a row. Every other day, another one of those massive storms would blow in; making the Chozo villagers activate the crystal to conjure up the Weather Shield, and reminding me of that dark and stormy night. (Yes, Master Kel-Zich made me bring down every single booth, decoration, telescope piece, and the crystal down from the mountain back to the village!) It was a greenish, translucent dome that covered the whole village, protecting it from the storm. During these storms, I would have time to discuss things with some of my friends.

One of the most memorable ones was my discussion with Chikorita. I realized that I hadn't gotten to know her very well throughout the whole adventure, so I sat down next to her, against the wall of one of the houses, and started, "You know, Chikorita…"

"What is it, Little Amy?"

"Do you think Big Amy and me are too…I dunno…similar?"

"Yes…and no. Sure, you might have the same first name, interests, and lots of other things…but you don't always act the same. And of course, you're way smarter. But you're the same in a good way…" She snuggled up to me. "And you, too, make me feel like I can face anything they throw at me."

I just remembered something from that script that I'd nearly forgotten about. "Hey...yeah! You never have to say, 'Guts…guts…guts!' or anything like that anymore!"

Chikorita stared at me in disbelief. "…You're right! I never did! And yet you still knew about that…" We stared up at the rain and wind pounding the dome over the village for a few more seconds before she continued. "…It's true. I'd always been such a coward. See, one day I accidentally ran into some Crobat's cave…and I barely got out of there alive. I was so young. I didn't know any better. Ever since then…" She sighed. "I'd been really scared of scary things."

"That makes sense…I get scared by scary stuff a lot too," I replied. I wasn't exactly sure what went on in Chikorita's past, but it would make perfect sense that she experienced something so traumatizing back then. I then figured that while we were discussing her past, I might as well ask about something important. "What about your mom and dad?"

"Huh? What are you talking abou—Oh yeeeeaaaah…" She shook her head and giggled. "Never saw 'em. Didn't need to. Only baby Pokémon like Cleffa and Igglybuff—"

"Oh yeah! I got it. Guess that goes to show just how different Pokémon are compared to others in the galaxy…like me."

"And Samus, I guess. Anyway…if it weren't for that Relic Fragment that washed up in front of me on the beach that day…I never would've ever wanted to explore places. I thought if I'd live up in Sharpedo Bluff, it would help, but…I was still too scared to even apply for an exploration team! Until I met Big Amy."

I sighed. "Yeah…I know. I think one of the rules is that you have to have a partner if you want to form a team. You know, as backup. Didn't stop Dusknoir from working on his own, but still…"

Chikorita gazed around the village until she caught a glimpse of Samus sitting on one of the roofs, playing my Explorers of Sky DS game. "Hang on. That magical device you have…"

"My pink DS Lite?"

"Yeah, that! Was Samus right? I could've easily been replaced by someone else?"

My stomach suddenly felt like a chunk of lead plunged right into its bottom, and I felt guilty and queasy inside. "…the truth is…yeah. It IS a role-playing game, so people can play as any of those 16 Pokémon they want and choose almost any of the others as their partner. And it's true that if I were a Jigglypuff, you'd be the first partner I'd ever want. But…" I hugged her. "You're one-of-a-kind, Chikorita. No one—not even another Chikorita—not even an X Parasite version of you—could ever replace you. You were there for Big Amy when she needed you, and…all I'm saying is…" I sniffed. "You're a good person, and I'm glad I met you."

Her eyes teared up with emotion, too. That's what I loved about her too—that she could get serious whenever it was necessary, and wasn't afraid to wear her heart on her sleeve no matter what. "I'm glad I met you too, Little Amy! Throughout this whole adventure, you know, we've faced bad guys that were 100 times scarier than Primal Dialga ever was. The Space Pirates…Ridley…Mother Brain…Zark and Zork…and especially Queen X. But because both of you were here with me, I…I made it this far. Thank you so much!"

"And thank you for believing in me even after I told you everything about…you know. You have **no idea** how much it means to me."

She smiled and sighed, "I always **knew** you were a good person, one-of-a-kind, just like Big Amy. Wanna be friends forever?"

"…Of course. I've always wanted to be."

As the storm calmed down and eventually cleared, I still had no idea how long I would stay here in this dimension until I went home, and I worried about how I would say goodbye to Big Amy and Chikorita and everyone on that day. But one thing was for sure. They were like _Ohana_, or family. I would never forget them no matter what.

"Chikorita? Kid?"

An orange spaceship landed right behind us. It was so sudden that we nearly freaked out before we realized it was just Adam. "Mr. Malkovich?" I exclaimed.

"D—don't scare us like that!" stuttered Chikorita in outrage.

"Sorry, ladies. I tried to let you know I was coming, but...I guess my former military training took over. Anyway, I was listening, and I figured that, since it seems to be confession time and all...I have something to tell you."

We perked up. "What is it?" we asked.

"You know that 'accident on the job' I told you about? That was just a cover story. I think I can trust you with the truth now, though. The truth is...there **was **no accident. I willingly chose to sacrifice myself in order to save Samus' life."

Chikorita gasped and whimpered in sympathy. My face paled, though I wasn't as surprised as I usually was. "Yeah...I kinda...heard about that..." I trailed off as I pointed behind my back as if to refer to my Metroid Fusion game. Conveniently enough, Samus came in from the exact point I was gesturing towards, holding the now-closed DS Lite.

"Well, of course you'd know about it. You're the Master of the Universe, remember—?" she started to comment.

I cut her off. "No, Samus, wait! I only know that Mr. Malkovich did that, but what I'm not sure is...how. Could you guys tell us? Please?" I gestured to Chikorita for emphasis, and she nodded vigorously.

Samus sighed and conceded, "...Well...You never did say anything about what happened between this so-called 'Super Metroid' and 'Metroid Fusion'. Seriously, I can't believe they'd name an entire series after an extinct species, when I'm clearly the main character. But never mind about that. Adam...you want to start?"

"My pleasure, Lady," he replied.

The two of them took turns describing Samus' mission to a facility called the BOTTLE SHIP (Yes, it was written in all capital letters like that). Big Amy and Grovyle came in around that time, so they had to start over for a bit, but they then went on. Adam was the leader of a platoon of Galactic Federation guys, Samus and Adam hadn't met for 10 years until then, the distress signal was called a Baby's Cry (because it could not, nor should not, ever be ignored), they found out the unbelievably deceptive life cycle of Ridley, there was this Madeleine Bergman and Melissa Bergman, the latter of which they called MB (as in, Mother Brain), blah blah blah blah blah. As I listened with utmost attention, I slowly realized that this was the whole plot for Metroid: Other M, that Wii game I planned to buy at the end of August. On one hand, they were all spoilers, but on the other hand...I was so glad they told me everything. Samus really hit it home when she showed us the last memento that Adam ever had: his helmet. It was clear that by the end, Big Amy, Chikorita, and especially Grovyle finally realized that they weren't that different from Samus and Adam after all.

After the conclusion of their story, Samus picked Adam's helmet up and closed her eyes, almost as if she was thinking back a long way into the past. "Back then, I never thought that I'd ever find anyone who ever understood me the way Adam did." She paused, opened her eyes, smiled at me, and finished, "Looks like you proved me wrong, Amy."

I felt like I would faint from sheer joy and happiness on the spot. It felt like it would never end.

Finally, the night before the big day came. Master Kel-Zich gathered us all around the crystal and announced to us. "The Final Test shall be tomorrow morning at 10:00! You have all performed excellently, children. You shall either all pass or all fail as a team. If all four of you pass, you will all become true Space Warriors worthy of the title of Ultimate Warrior!"

"Ultimate Warrior, huh?" remarked Grovyle.

Old Bird stepped forward. "Yes. In the ancient Chozo language, the word Metroid means Ultimate Warrior. We created the Metroids so that they would save Planet SR-388 from the X Parasites, the most powerful menace the galaxy has ever known."

His words got me to thinking. "I wonder where the X parasites came from…or if someone made them…and if so, who?" I whispered to myself.

Gray Voice heard me. "We have analyzed them, and have come to the conclusion that they are not native to SR-388, or any planet in the galaxy, for that matter. We believe someone created them. Who? We do not know yet."

An uncomfortable silence washed over everyone for a few seconds as we considered the implications of what that meant. Finally, Big Amy broke the silence by asking, "What's the test going to be about?"

"We cannot tell you. It shall be a surprise, just like how Queen X would deploy at you."

"And…what if we fail?" whispered Chikorita nervously.

"Then that means Queen X can still crush you all. Simple as that," explained Master Kel-Zich bluntly. "But do not worry. We have every confidence that the four of you will be able to pass together."

Then they held the last song and dance ceremony of the night before our test. I had fun as usual, but the fact that they played epic music only reminded me of whatever ordeal was to come. When I finally tired out, I sat down along with my friends, who just caught up with Samus.

"Hey, Samus? Did you ever have a test like the one we'll have? What was it like?" asked Chikorita. She looked a bit nervous, and I guessed that she was remembering the time she asked Loudred what the Guild Graduation exam would be like...to no avail. I could swear she was fervently wishing the answer would be different this time.

"Actually…I did. On Planet Zebes," she replied. "Only I didn't even know that the Chozo considered it a test. I was 14 at the time. There were these really pretty butterfly creatures called Ion Fairies. Unfortunately, they were poisoned flowers from another planet, and they became insane. Mother Brain wanted to exterminate them all, but I knew that all I had to do was aim at their weapons, and then they wouldn't hurt anyone anymore. Except…except…"—she blinked a few tears away—"Mother Brain killed them all anyway."

We didn't say anything for a long time, taking in that horrible fact. Finally, Samus continued, "But when Grandpa and Father saw what I did, they told me that I passed the Test of Compassion. They knew my physical abilities had grown to a staggeringly high level, but they were concerned about if I had any compassion for life at all." She shuddered. "I guess I'll have to take that test again, seeing as how I ditched you guys for my career. But anyway, they then said that it was time for me to go on and make my own life. They made this Power Suit for me and gave me my own gunship, and I traveled to the Galactic Federation, where I joined the Federation's military under Adam's command, and eventually found out that what I really wanted was to become a Bounty Hunter." She closed her eyes and sighed. "I remember it all as if it were only yesterday…the very first humans I ever met in 11 years."

Chikorita smiled. "Well! I think my aim for weapons is spot-on now!" she commented, referring to the whole aim-at-the-weapons-to-save-the-Ion-Fairies concept. We laughed a bit before joining back in the circle for more dancing. I was so excited and nervous that was really hard for me to sleep that night. Luckily, all I had to do was finish up my journal entry for Chapter 22: The Transfusion. Wow. That took a long time to write! [Note that it really wasn't Chapter 22 at the time. It only became Chapter 24 after I factored in what Team Pecha and Samus told me about their adventures.] Then Big Amy and I were finally able to conk out.

* * *

July 25, 2510. The day of the Final Test. We ate breakfast, stretched, and did whatever else we could to prepare for it (including sleeping in). At soon as my watch hit 9:50, Master Kel-Zich led me and Big Amy to the secret tunnel leading into the depths of Mt. Chorshire. Ancient Chozo carvings depicting the history of their civilization decorated the walls like ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, but it was all in pictures, so I could understand everything except for the ancient runes they used. When we reached the central chamber, I saw the gigantic circular Teleportation Warp Gate for the first time, stretching up to touch the ceiling. Long, blue cryostasis pods lined the wall on the far side, and I remembered that the Chozo probably placed us in those when they first warped us here to stop the X Parasites from killing us. I wondered if this room was where our final test would be.

It wasn't.

Master Kel-Zich placed a clawed hand on a square panel into the wall. It lit up, and a hidden door opened up from the wall. We followed him through up a long, winding, dark stairway, occasionally lit by gaseous orange lights that floated through clear cylindrical wires lining the walls. It was like walking up through a dungeon…with oddly hi-tech lights. Finally we reached the end. Master Kel-Zich opened the door for us.

We found ourselves in a stadium-like rock cave room, lit with an odd ambient green light from somewhere. We could hear and feel the wind rushing through the gaps in the rock walls, and even felt a drop of water coming from the ceiling, which, oddly enough, had very few stalactites. Practically every single Chozo from the village was sitting in the stands, animatedly chatting amongst each other. I wondered how they got here. Maybe those conical rock walls hid some secret elevators. The whole room evoked the kinds of stadiums I remembered seeing in the Gamecube game Soul Calibur II.

Then we saw Los-Nom and Plu-Thrim coming from a similar door on the other side, leading Grovyle and Chikorita. I looked at the stadium as we approached. My mind raced. Was this going to be a two-on-two battle? Or were we going to face a giant monster and have to work together to fight it? Maybe an obstacle course of some sort? Maybe all five Krazoa Tests from Star Fox Adventures all at once, only without the Krazoa Spirits? Who knew?

Just then, Master Kel-Zich told us, "Amy [you know who]? Enter on the left, and Amy Vee Purima, enter on the right over there." We did as we were told, following the paths and went through the open doorways into the arena. At the same time, Grovyle entered on the far left (my left, their right), and Chikorita entered on the far right. My heart raced as the crowd cheered. Anything could happen. At least I had my Ylla powers now, so I wasn't completely useless in battle.

Master Kel-Zich took his position high up behind us, and Los-Nom and Plu-Thrim slithered up the wall on the other side. Master Kel-Zich grabbed a hologram voice-amplifying microphone and boomed out to the crowd, "Fellow villagers! Here it is, the moment we have all been waiting for since the children's arrival: The Ultimate Warriors' Final Test!" The crowd cheered.

This was just like the Pokéathlon Contest: the pressure of not knowing what the heck you were supposed to do. But I calmed myself. His first rule was to never let yourself panic, no matter what.

"Within only five minutes, the contestants must…" The Chozo with the big drums in the stands pounded out a drumroll.

"…**fight until they end the battle! BEGIN!**"

Ice beams blew into the arena from above, and flamethrowers burst in from below. Four holographic timers materialized over the audience, and a reddish force field sprung up between the audience and the arena, giving the place a frightening red glow. The most epic boss music I've ever heard blared from the holes of the cavern. All four of us stood there to the spot. We shouted, "WHAT?"

My energy levels surged, allowing my eight wings to sprout out and enabling me to dodge a flamethrower from underneath. I didn't understand! Master Kel-Zich said that we'd either all pass or all fail! Why did he change it to a free-for-all against each other? And what was with all the fire and ice? Was this some kind of obstacle course? He should've made up his mind already. For some reason, it reminded me of the 4-way Robattle at the Pokéathlon Contest.

My friends similarly dodged the flamethrowers and ice beams, too shocked to attack me…yet. I flew in circles, racking my brain. This must've been some kind of riddle. They must've known about how I believed that true friends never hurt each other. End the battle, end the battle…how do we end the battle without hurting each other? Suddenly, I thought back to Pokémon Adventures Volume 4, in which Yellow was placed under a similar dilemma. Now what exactly did she do again…?

"Little Amy! What the heck are we supposed to do?" shouted Chikorita.

"I'm working on it!" I replied.

I really was. As I circled the arena over and over again, I noticed an odd pattern to the ice beams and flamethrowers. The three mechanisms squirting them out were floating in the air, moving in a circular pattern. All that music was really catchy, and I couldn't help but notice that the cylindrical mechanisms were moving in rhythm to it. I then looked up to the holographic scoreboard and saw that we all had life bars, as well as a little status screen, just like in the Pokémon games. If all we had to do was end the battle by making each other faint…

I thought up of an idea so crazy, it just might work.

I swooped to the ground and extended my wings to wrap around all three of my friends, and pulled them up into the air. "Little Amy! What are you doing?" shouted Big Amy.

"Just trust me on this one! I think I know how to make us all faint without actually hurting ourselves!" I bounced up and down in time to the music, aimed as best as I could, and after I counted to eight, threw all three of them against the mechanisms as hard as I could. Direct hit! Unfortunately, only Big Amy bounced right back to me, and I had to catch Chikorita and Grovyle.

Grovyle was outraged. "Amy! What the heck was **that** all about?"

"Just jump off those thingies back to me when I throw you at them! I'm not sure how long I can keep it going, but I think I'll think of something!" I held them all up and restarted my counting in tune with the music. Ready…aim…fire! Not only did they all land, but they all bounced right back to me like I told them to. I caught them, counted only to four, and repeated the process. Before long, I was into the act, catching, throwing and spinning myself around to match the rotation of the mechanisms. I wasn't sure how long I could go on before I fainted from the dizziness, but hopefully long enough. Unfortunately, the status screen only showed that we were 50% dizzy when the mechanisms broke and dropped to the floor.

"Now what?" shouted Chikorita.

I decided to grasp all three of them and shot up through the mouth of the mountain to the sky above. Sure enough, the force field was in use here too. There were blusteringly cold winds, swirling around us over and over again…almost like a mini tornado. A tornado? That got me to thinking.

I dragged the three of them close in and spun us all around as fast as I could. Before long, I couldn't take it anymore, and fell limp. We fell through the hole and were plunging towards the stadium floor…where the three mechanisms still lay. I wondered how they could shoot fire and ice from both ends. "Guys! Shoot your attacks at the floor! Maybe it'll cushion our landing or something!"

They did. Big Amy used Hyper Voice, Chikorita used Magical Leaf, and Grovyle used Bullet Seed, the first time I've ever seen him use the move. Finally, I charged up a pink energy beam attack, combined it with everyone else, and shot it down. The mechanisms split open and hit us in the face with a bunch of foul-smelling chemicals. It flooded my nostrils instantly. I was out like a light.

* * *

"You have all passed."

We slowly woke up, barely able to take it all in. It looked like we were sprawled out onto the stadium floor amidst pieces of the broken mechanisms. Master Kel-Zich stood in front of us. "…Huh? W—we did?" I could only groan.

"Without a doubt, child. I shall admit that your plan was a bit…unorthodox…but you still cleverly figured out that the fainting gas was inside these tanks. Because you made you and all of your friends faint without even hurting yourselves to an unacceptable degree, you now know how to deal with a similar situation should Queen X pit you against each other like this. You have shown that you can be strong and gentle at the same time. Now that you have passed, you have no need to call me Master anymore. Well done."

Everyone in the stands clapped and cheered. I looked up at the monitor. We had seven seconds left, and the status screen showed that we had fainted, yet were still practically at full health. Suddenly, the ground of the stadium heaved and formed a mountain, with us at the peak. Kel-Zich helped us all stand up. We all just stood there with our jaws dropping and twitching, wondering how in the world my unorthodox plan allowed us to pass at all. Los-Nom slithered up, holding four badge-like objects in his tentacles, and handed them to Kel-Zich. He then handed them to us, one by one. He then turned to the crowd. "Fellow villagers! I am proud to announce that these four children are now worthy inheritors of the title of Ultimate Warrior!"

The crowd went wild. I haven't felt this elated since winning the Pokéathlon Contest, and for a second, I was worried that the Space Pirates would barge in through the ceiling any second now. Luckily, they didn't, and a wave of triumph swept over me. All that work, all of our trials and pains, every second of it…was worth it. As I gazed down at my shiny new Space Warrior badge, I smiled. Not only did we finally become official Space Warriors, we became worthy of the best of them all—the Ultimate Warriors.

Grovyle whispered to me, "Amy? I've gotta be honest. I thought that was the stupidest plan ever…but it worked. It really worked."

Chikorita bounced in front of me enthusiastically and shouted, "That was SO…GENIUS!"

"I know, right?" agreed Big Amy. "Why didn't I think of that? I'm practically you! **And **I'm the leader of Team Pecha, the freaking Heroes of Time, and I still didn't think of—!" An odd look suddenly crept on her face, and she smiled. "I just got an idea so crazy, it just might work! Little Amy? ...Why don't **you **become the new leader of Team Pecha?"

I froze. Chikorita froze. So did Grovyle. "Wha...?" we uttered at the same time.

She spoke faster and faster by the second. "Yeah, you can fly now! You're probably the strongest, most kick-butt fighter girl out of all of us, and you're really really really really REEEEAAALLY smart, maybe even smarter than Dusknoir! And Grovyle! Don't you want to join our team too? You've been with us this long, so why not?"

"Uh…" Grovyle was still stunned.

"That's even **more** genius!" shouted Chikorita. She exchanged hi-fives (or whatever was the little dinosaur equivalent of it) with Big Amy.

I stammered, "W—wait a second…you guys sure it's okay for a **human** to lead an exploration team for Pokémon?"

The ever-so-helpful Adam popped up on a hologram monitor and remarked, "Technically, you are now a human infused with Metroid DNA **and **Ylla DNA; in other words, a hybrid—"

"Pleeeeeeeaaaaaaase?" they begged, cutting Adam off and stared at Grovyle and me with huge, shiny Bambi-like eyes.

Grovyle stammered, "I—I guess—"

"YES!" I exclaimed in triumph. I never thought I'd ever be asked, and I figured it would be really cool to give leadership a try...especially being the leader of the one and only Team Pecha, with my most favorite Pokémon ever. "I won't let you guys down! I promise I'll be the best leader ever of Team Pecha, the Heroes of—Wait a second."

"What?" they asked simultaneously.

"I've got a better idea. We're trying to save the galaxy from Queen X, right? Let's be the Heroes of…Space!"

They absolutely loved it. But Grovyle pointed out that we were now Ulimate Warriors, so we came to a compromise. By the time we finished, Kel-Zich let us borrow a microphone, and we shouted, all at once, "We are Team Pecha, the Ultimate Warriors, and the Heroes of Space!"

The Chozo held a celebration party all day. That night, as I continued to write my journals, I decided to write something different down after I recorded everything that happened today. I took a step back and decided that what my life needed were some real goals now that I was a real kick-butt fighter girl.

_My two goals:_

_1. Save the universe from Queen X, and…  
2. Give all of my friends a happy ending. All of them. Even Samus._

I hugged the piece of paper and smiled. If someone—even if it was Kel-Zich—were to show this to me when I first stowed away on this adventure, I would've dismissed these goals as completely impossible. But now I was a true Space Warrior. Not just that—an Ultimate Warrior, too. I turned to the back of my Metroid Fusion instruction booklet and reread the truth about the Metroids.

Metroid. In the Chozo's native language, it meant "Ultimate Warrior". They were so named because they were the only ones capable of defeating the X Parasites once and for all. Now that they were extinct, the five of us were the only ones who could possibly continue their destiny.

It didn't matter how long it took or what sacrifices we had to make. I vowed right then and there to do anything I could—anything at all—in order to make those two goals come true.

To be continued…

**Coming up next: Wow! Grovyle joined Team Pecha…and now I'm the leader? Unbelievable! Speaking of unbelievable stuff, Kel-Zich has finally completed his research on me, Big Amy, and the nature of this universe, and proceeds to tell us everything new he discovered. Find them all out next time, in **Answers, Part 2 of 2**!**


	24. Answers, Part 2 of 2

Chapter 26: Answers, Part 2 of 2

The next evening, Kel-Zich called us all to the crystal at the center of town again. He said it was urgent, so we all came quickly, even Adam Malkovich. Previously throughout the day, the Chozo continued to celebrate our passing the Ultimate Warrior test, though we could tell the time was coming soon for us to leave Planet Chozodia and save the galaxy from Queen X. It made me sad. I would really miss this place, with its harmony with nature, its kindhearted villagers, and all of my new friends.

We gathered around the crystal like the very first time, with Kel-Zich in the center, floating in front of the crystal. He clapped his hands together, silencing everyone, and announced, "Fellow villagers…and children, or should I say, Ultimate Warriors? I have finally deduced the truth behind the existences of both Amy's."

"What? REALLY?" we both gasped at the same time.

"Correct. Amy Vee Purima?"

"Yes, sir?"

"I can say, without a shadow of a doubt, that you…are Amy [you know who] from the future."

It was just like Chapter 13: Dusknoir's Secret in the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games. "WHAT?" we all shouted, but especially me. How the heck was that possible?

Kel-Zich asked, "Grovyle. Chikorita. Have you noticed that whenever Amy [you know who] would become severely injured, Amy Vee Purima could feel it, too?"

Chikorita gasped, "Yeah! I was so scared she'd disappear again!"

"And that time when I almost…" Grovyle looked at me and gulped, clearly regretting his actions now.

I couldn't help but mention, "Uh…does that mean that if I die, she will…?"

The three of them suddenly surrounded me on all sides just like the time in the Pokéathlon Contest arena when the Space Pirates barged in, looking for any and all signs of danger. I thought they were overdoing it. Kel-Zich just chuckled, and reassured them, "Oh no, none of you will have to worry about that for a time. Furthermore, I have more to say about that matter later. Now let me continue. Amy Vee Purima? You said you had a feeling you experienced all of this before?"

She gasped in realization, "You're right! That time, and that time, and all of those times too…H—Hey, Little Amy? I never told you this, but remember when Chikorita and I first came to your home planet? I couldn't help but get that same funny feeling…that I've been there before."

I thought back and exclaimed, "Wait a second! Maybe that's why you could draw so much better than me when you were only, like, five years old! But…if Zoroark restored all of your memories…then how come you don't completely remember being me?"

"Allow me to explain. Though the two of you have the exact same soul, it is much easier for a soul to retain the memories of one body than another. There may be another reason, too…" Kel-Zich trailed off in an odd way, and I briefly wondered whether he really thought this whole thing through or not. He then continued, "If two beings with the same soul are in the same dimension in the exact same time period, their overall power is cut in half. That is why I had you carry her during the transfusion—I realized too late that because your soul was cut in half, you would never have been able to handle it on your own."

We just sat there, stunned, unable to come up with anything. I think Grovyle was by far the most shocked. Poor guy. I didn't blame him. After all, if what Kel-Zich said really was true, then that meant that Operation Down With Interspecies Romance just became really weird. I mean, there's no way I could pretend to like both him and Kirby at the same time…could I? Finally, I thought of something to ask. "Okay…so if she and I are one and the same…and if we're here at the exact same place and time…then, what happens that makes me become her?"

"Very good question. It was the one I have been wrangling with ever since you arrived. But just last night, I have determined the cause. You, Amy [you know who], will sometime in the future, send your soul to the day of April 25, 2498, when Amy Vee Purima was born. Actually, nine months before that."

My jaw dropped. "My soul…? Why would I do that? When? And for that matter…how?"

"How you do that…I am not entirely certain. As for why…I have a theory. Have you heard of the tragic story of the Metroids?"

I nodded. Samus cringed. Team Pecha looked confused. "I don't know if we know the whole story," admitted Big Amy.

The Chozo elder of the village, Essence Sight, hobbled up and took over from there, as if on cue. "Long, long ago, we Chozo traveled far and wide. Our civilization stretched across the galaxy. One of the worlds we landed on was Planet SR-388. Life was peaceful…until **they** came. The X Parasites. We do not know how they came to be, but we strongly suspect that someone artificially created them. They swarmed over the planet, devouring life wherever they spread. We had to do something, anything, to stop them, lest they overrun the planet. And that is when we created…the Metroids.

"It was around the same time Old Bird and Gray Voice brought Samus to Planet Zebes. We released the Metroids onto Planet SR-388. They were a complete success. But then we discovered an unexpected side effect in them. Not only would they eat the X Parasites…they would sap up life energy from other living beings, too. The scarcer the X population became, the more they would resort to that method. Metroids had become the dominant life-form on the planet...when one fateful day, a Galactic Federation spaceship had the misfortune to explore around.

"The platoon was completely wiped out. Because of that, the Space Pirates took interest in our Metroids and decided to multiply them for use as a weapon against the Federation. With the rise of the Space Pirates came the fall of our civilization. They did it in secret on the Planet Zebes they recently took over. Fearing the threat, the Galactic Federation sent the one bounty hunter that ever lived there…that was capable of infiltrating the hideout and destroying their operation from within. That bounty hunter was our child…Samus Aran."

And with that, she stood up to cheers and applause. My Pokémon friends stared up at her in awe, going "Whooooaaaa…" She looked pained by all of the attention, and I suspected it was because of that little…**accident**…with the Power Suit she had while escaping from the planet after she defeated Mother Brain. I decided to not tell anyone, so she wouldn't be too embarrassed. [See Metroid: Zero Mission, if you're curious.]

Essence Sight continued his story. "A couple of years passed, during which Samus went on adventures to rid the galaxy of Phazon… [abbreviated]. By then, the Galactic Federation had deemed the Metroids too dangerous to exist, so they hired Samus, the only one with knowledge on how to defeat them, to travel to SR-388…and exterminate them all. She succeeded. And now, with the Metroids gone…the X Parasite population had begun to rise again. And so here we are. Zoroark has assisted their Queen in escaping the planet, and the rest is history."

Samus tried to put up a brave front, but couldn't stop her tears. "Not all of them," she hiccupped. "One survived. The little baby. I…I tried to protect it…I thought the guys at Planet Ceres could keep it safe and use it to help the galaxy. They were discovering so many ways…that Metroids could be used for good. But Ridley captured it. I went back to Zebes to save it, but…it protected me from Mother Brain…and she killed it…and then…" She dissolved into tears. I felt so bad for her. I didn't blame her for being so coldhearted to us anymore.

"Mother Brain's defeat made Planet Zebes implode completely, and therefore, it no longer exists," concluded Essence Sight.

I then turned to him and asked a question that had been nagging at the back of my mind for 7 years now. "By the way…how exactly** did** you create the Metroids?"

He shook his head sadly and explained, "It was…a very difficult process. The Law of Equivalent Exchange states that in order to create something, an equal mass must be given. Not only did we have to create its DNA and energy-absorption properties…we had to sacrifice one of our own. His name was Ray of Hope, and…he was an old friend of mine. I miss him very much, and am very saddened to see that his sacrifice…was in vain."

Old Bird spoke up, "And so we remember the sacrifice he made to save us all. Never forget Ray of Hope."

All the Chozo around us repeated, "Never forget." They turned their heads down, almost as if in prayer. We sat there for a long time, not saying anything, out of respect for the guy. Finally, after about a minute or so, Essence Sight pulled a small treasure-chest-looking object out of the pocket of his robes. He opened it, pulled out a disc made out of blackish rock, and set it down in front of me, pressing a button in the middle. The disc expanded to a circle about 3 feet in diameter, and it had all sorts of magic circle designs scrawled over it, in an ancient Chozo-like way. "What's this?" I asked.

"This is what he used to give life to the very first Queen Metroid. I have been keeping it all this time to honor his memory. Now the only Metroid DNA in the galaxy remains…in the five of you."

Big Amy crawled up to it and fingered the disc, spinning it and examining the runes. "Oooh…pretty," she cooed. Suddenly, her whole body shook, and she froze up. "I don't feel…so good…" she mumbled. The color in her eyes started to fade. We all grew really concerned.

"Big Amy? Big Amy! What's wrong?" I panicked, trying to shake her out of her trance. Without warning, my head swam. My eyes blacked out. A streak of white light cut across my vision. I quickly realized that somehow, someway, Big Amy was receiving a Dimensional Scream…and was somehow able to share it with me. Maybe it was proof that we had the same soul? I didn't know.

It was an absolute flood of images. Several Chozo researchers were in the lab, mixing chemicals involving DNA from various jellyfish and other species across the galaxy.

A lone Chozo knelt in front of the glowing stone circle, which was lined with Metroid DNA samples around its edge. A crowd of Chozo on the outside, watching on with sadness in their eyes. "I shall call it Metroid…the Ultimate Warrior. For the sake of peace in the galaxy…!" He stepped in the center of the circle, and the light enveloped him, breaking his body down into some sort of liquid. The light enveloped the Metroid DNA capsules, and shrunk to a little point. It then slowly grew, grew, and grew…into a baby Metroid. The Chozo observing the scene bowed their heads down and mourned, "Never forget Ray of Hope. Never forget."

Then the scene shifted. There was still that circle, but instead of Chozo surrounding the circle, it was us. Me, Samus, Grovyle, Chikorita, and Big Amy. Were we floating in midair in the middle of the Galactic Federation? Lights of green energy seemed to be flowing through their bodies into the circle, powering it up. Big Amy was contributing by far the most, though, as her whole body was glowing extremely brightly, and I could swear there were some yellow blocks of light surrounding her, too. But her light show wasn't able to completely obscure the figure that stepped into the middle of the circle. The one with eight pink, glowing wings. I gasped. It was me.

Suddenly, I heard voices shouting, "Little Amy! Little Amy! Wake up!" It was Chikorita. I sat up and groaned to her, "I think I just got…a Dimensional Scream."

Chikorita's jaw dropped. Grovyle gasped, "No way." Kel-Zich speculated, "Perhaps, because they have the same soul, they receive the same visions when in close proximity…" Finally, Big Amy woke up too.

"That was the first Dimensional Scream you got in, like, ever!" shouted Chikorita at Big Amy. "So did you see the past or the future?"

I explained for her, "I think we saw both." We then conveyed everything we saw in great detail. Then we sat down as we thought over those visions. Finally, Grovyle spoke up, "…So what does it all mean?"

It came full-circle to me right then, and it pained me more than anything else to tell him. But at the same time, I didn't tell him about my seemingly omniscient amount of knowledge, and he almost killed me for that. I decided to drop him a warning, though. "…It means it's just as bad as what happened with you and Team Pecha back then…at Temporal Tower. It's so bad, I'm not sure if I should even tell you."

He gripped my shoulders and stared into my eyes, pleadingly. "Tell me. Please. I…have to know."

I sighed. Here went nothing. "When I was 11 years old or so, and I first learned about this whole story from Metroid Fusion, I…I remember thinking that that I would do anything to bring the Metroids back no matter what. And if it's true that Big Amy and I are one and the same, then…" I buried my face in my hands. "Don't you get it, guys? If only one of us is allowed to live in this universe, then…**I sacrifice myself!**"

Another long, stunned silence. Essence Sight concluded, "Judging by what you two saw…it sounded like all five of you giving up your Metroid DNA, and your mass, would be a suitable replacement for the genetic blueprints our scientists created."

Samus rose in anger and snapped right at him, "A suitable replacement? How can you say that? She's **human!** It's not right for her to sacrifice herself for a parasitic bloodsucker—!"

"Samus, stop! It's okay!" I quickly rose to stop her, and she calmed down as I continued, "I'm okay with it. It makes perfect sense, see? I'm from another dimension. I'm the one who doesn't belong here. I never was supposed to. But you all do. It wouldn't be fair for any of you to go. It wouldn't."

Big Amy asked, "But—but—wait. So when you send you soul back in time to become me?"

I rubbed my temples in agony. "Well, I really don't know! I don't know how the heck I can do that, and besides, what's the point? I forget everything I ever knew! You're proof of that, right there!"

Grovyle threw his arms in the air and exclaimed at Kel-Zich, "I don't get it! First you tell us that if Amy [you know who] dies, so will Amy Purima! Now you're saying that she does die so that—?"

"Patience, Grovyle," Kel-Zich stopped him in mid-sentence. "It is very simple. There is a point in which she will be able to send her soul and allow Amy Vee Purima to live at all. But **until that point,** if she dies, so will Amy Vee Purima…and the rest of the universe. You see, that is why this dimension started collapsing. If she never sends her soul back to become your friend, you never would've been able to save the future of your home planet."

"Ooooooooooh…" I uttered. It made perfect sense now!

Chikorita ran up to Kel-Zich and asked, "So when is it supposed to happen? Is—Isn't there another way? Does she really have to do it? I…I don't want her to…" She started crying.

Kel-Zich thought for a few moments before finally explaining, "There are actually two possibilities. It is very possible that the event they foresaw could happen within only a few days…or…"

"Or when?" she pressed.

"Or…it never happens at all. She could travel back to her home dimension, live out the rest of her normal life, and when she dies, her soul will then travel to the future to become Amy Vee Purima, and the universe will become balanced again…which can only happen if Queen X never comes back."

* * *

_Meanwhile, in the deep depths of space, a severely weakened Zoroark, along with his two bumbling Space Pirate subordinates Zark and Zork, are hanging onto an asteroid. Zoroark expends one last go-round…and finally morphs into Palkia._

Zoroark: FINALLY! I DID IT, BOYS!

Zark (sarcastically): Gr8, Boss-Man! Now can Wii go find r grand mistress alredi?

Zork: Wii r so screwed. It's been, like, 4 weeks. She's gunna kill us!

Zoroark: NOT UNLESS I CAN HELP IT.

_He uses the last of his strength to open a portal into the alternate dimension where Queen X currently is, and jumps through it, dragging Zark and Zork through. On the other side, he sees a paralyzed Planet Portania. It's grayish-black, broken up into a million pieces, not moving at all. Zoroark's energy levels instantly soar._

Zoroark: HOO, YEAH! NOW THIS IS MORE LIKE IT! PLANET PORTANIA, HERE WE COME!

Zork: W8 a sec, Boss-Man, whut about our grand mistress—?

Zoroak: WHO CARES ABOUT HER? THIS IS MY WORLD NOW!

Zark: (Jeez. Whut did HE hit his head on dis time…?)

_He zooms to the planet below, and sees his hero, Darkrai, standing imposingly on tall stilt-legs, on a throne of darkness high in the sky. The throne happens to be built atop a dilapidated version of the Sky Temple. Arceus is locked away somewhere deep below. Darkrai is observing all aspects of his dark empire, and takes special pride in Dusknoir's and Primal Dialga's execution activities._

Darkrai: Oooh! Take THAT! And THAT! You show 'em, Sableye-X! You show 'em too, Dusknoir-X! But you, Primal Dialga-X…Yeah! (Man, I just LOOOVE being king!)

Zoroark: YO! DARKRAI!

_Darkrai looks up at the Palkia with two Space Pirates on his shoulders, flying down in front of him. Palkia morphs into Zoroark's original form, which then rushes up to him. The Space Pirates stand there, looking over the world of darkness in awe._

Zoroark: Darkrai! Wow. I mean…wow. I'm your biggest fan! Can you sign an autograph for me, dude?

Darkrai (angered): Zoroark? What are you doing here? I thought I disposed of you back in the Frozen Island!

Zoroark (stunned): Say wha…?

Darkrai: Hang on…Isn't that Zark and Zork?

_He looks behind Zoroark's shoulder to see the two Space Pirates waving back at him. He growls in anger and floats right up in Zoroark's face._

Darkrai: How…did you GET…into this dimension?

Zoroark: Huh? Uh…

Darkrai: Hey! I know who you are!

_Darkrai's body starts morphing into an orange mushy glob, which then re-forms into a 22-year-old human woman with a tight black bodysuit complete with straps. She even has black lipstick on. The three Z's freak out._

Zork, Zark, and Zoroark: AAAAH! QUEEN X!

Queen X (still seething with anger): You…are…STILL…ALIVE?

Zark: Whu—whu—whu—whu—whut do ya meen?

Queen X: That. Dimension. COLLAPSED! Didn't it?

Zork: Uh, no ma'am, it didn't.

Zark: Well, it wuz collapsin', but den it just…stopped.

Queen X: Hang on. Now that you mention it…I could still feel Ridley-X in there. At least, until two weeks ago.

_She releases Zoroark and starts pacing back and forth._

Queen X: …If you're still alive…it can only mean one thing. That accursed Amy [you know who]…somehow SURVIVED! You LET SOMEONE give her METROID DNA! Who was it? Who? ANSWER ME!

Zoroark: …that…that accursed woman. Samus Aran. She…tricked us…

Queen X (rubbing her temples): Samus Aran. Samus Aran! Now there are at least two Metroid hybrids, if not more! And you let Amy [you know who], the only being with the knowledge to rival mine, survive! For FOUR…FREAKIN'…WEEKS!

_Her eight black wings spread in fury. Right before she blasts them, though, she has a better idea, and smiles._

Queen X: But thank you for letting me know. After all, I know all of her strengths and weaknesses…and her worst fears. As you can see here, I have infected nearly every being in this dimension. I shall use my army…and prepare a nasty surprise for her **and** that accursed Samus Aran! As for you, Zoroark? If that Team Pecha of yours is still alive, I shall allow you to join me and punish them. As much as you want!

Zoroark: Aye-aye, your majesty! Long live the X Parasite Empire!

Zark and Zork: w00t! w00t! w00t! w00t!

_The three of them hop on her eight black wings. She opens a portal back into her home dimension and flies them through, smiling, thirsty for sweet, sweet revenge._

Queen X: (That's right, Little Miss Master of the Universe! Enjoy your life while you still can, because I **will **prepare a nasty, nasty surprise…so nasty, you'll actually wish you died the day I infected you! Heheheheheheh!)

* * *

Suddenly, Kel-Zich collapsed, gripping his head in his hands to alleviate the pain.

We gasped. "Kel-Zich! What's wrong? Are you okay?" I panicked.

"I…I cannot detect the presence of the other dimensions anymore…" he gasped. "Something—or someone—erected a dimensional barrier. No one can time-travel or escape from this dimension anymore. It is an exceedingly powerful force. And I can see…"

"What?" I pressed. I grew nervous. Could this guy see the future like a Gardevoir? I was worried if he actually could.

Unfortunately, he could. "The future just became clear. There is only one path you can take now, if you wish to save us all…but the more you delay…the more likely that this universe will be headed towards doomsday instead. But no matter what happens from here, you, the Master of This Universe, are going to die, because…" He took a deep breath, and said it.

**"****Queen X has returned."**

A strong wind blew, and all the lights in the village winked out of existence.

—The End of Act 2—


	25. Welcome to the War

—Act 3: The Clone War—

Chapter 27: Welcome to the War

There was no song and dance that night.

I could barely sleep either. It was like a 2,000-ton weight dropped on my head. No matter which Pokémon Mystery Dungeon game I played, whether it was Blue Rescue Team, Explorers of Time, and even Explorers of Sky, the story involved the main character somehow having to die and leave all of their friends behind. It was all so sad…I cried almost every time. But I never considered what it would be like if that were to actually happen to me.

It wasn't fair. All this time, we've been marching up to someone's death? If only I knew something like that would happen, I wouldn't have gone on this adventure at all. I mean, I just graduated from high school. I wanted to be a manga artist so I could share my personal sci-fi series with the world. I had my own future waiting for me. All I wanted was to finish this adventure and go home so I could get on with my life. Why did my life have to end so soon? It was too short.

I then remembered seeing videos in Driver's Ed class about how there were lots of high school seniors who died on the night after they graduated. Now that was the pinnacle of unfairness. I've been the most careful driver I could ever be, always following the speed limit, never gotten any tickets…and never, ever, dragged a bunch of friends in the car with beer and stuff and drove at speeds in excess of 90 mph in the middle of the night. But I was still going to die anyway, on that very night I graduated as far as those back on Earth were concerned, and no one would ever know that it would be at the hands of Queen X from another dimension. What this all my life ever amounted to all along?

It was so unbelievable, too. I mean, it made perfect sense that I would want to become Amy Vee Purima in the future. She represented everything I ever wanted to be. But how the heck would that be possible? It just wasn't! And what would be the point of that, anyway? I wouldn't remember anything. She was living proof right here, because she sure didn't remember anything from my life.

The two of us just stared up at the stars for the last time in our bed, crying uncontrollably, before finally falling asleep. I was way too sad to even think about how weird this was that we were in the same bed if we actually did have the same soul like Kel-Zich said we did. I felt sick to my stomach. We promised we would be best friends forever…but now…it looked like it would be utterly impossible to keep that promise anymore.

* * *

In the morning, Kel-Zich led us to the top of the mountain, where the rest of the villagers were gathering. Kirby rode up it on his Winged Star, and he dragged along Big Amy's Slick Star. We saw Grovyle and Chikorita plodding up, led by Los-Nom and Plu-Thrim slithering up. Samus and her orange gunship, with Adam undeniably in it, were already there, and so were Celebi, Gandrayda, Old Bird, Gray Voice, Essence Sight, and everyone else. Speaking of Adam, I realized that I was too busy talk with him very much during our training, except that one time. I felt terrible about it, and resolved to discuss a few more things with him before...I shook that thought out of my head. Finally, we were all there. Kel-Zich addressed the five of us.

"Well, children, the time has come to face Queen X and save the galaxy. It is your last chance to make things right again. If you hurry, you shall be able to intercept her before she discovers where we are hidden. And do not worry. Kirby shall accompany you."

Kirby shouted, "YAAAAY!" in enthusiasm.

"Why?" asked Big Amy. "He'll be infected."

"Not if I do this!" he replied. He suddenly sucked her up in that huge mouth of his, and a flash of bright light emitting from his body nearly blinded us. When the light cleared, she was already safely out, and Kirby now had Jigglypuff ears and hair. A blue Jigglypuff, huh? Looked really silly, but cute at the same time. "I have Metwoid DNA thingies too now!" he explained.

Kel-Zich then continued, "Celebi, Gandrayda, Los-Nom, and Plu-Thrim shall remain here until it is safe for them to return to their home planets."

Celebi sniffed and cried, "I'll really miss you, Grovyle! Just don't do anything stupid, like die, okay?"

"Hey…" he smirked. "Since when did I ever do anything stupid?" I raised an eyebrow and glared at him to remind him of you-know-when, and he gulped.

"See ya later, Sammy. Oh, and both Amy's? Try not to think too badly of me, okay? It was all in good fun. Now get out there and kick Queen X's butt for me!" encouraged Gandrayda.

Los-Nom whispered, "Of all the planets I have traveled to, I have never met more extraordinary individuals than you." Plu-Thrim added, "Save the sunrises…for every being in this galaxy. We shall never forget you."

Samus walked up to Old Bird and Gray Voice and whispered, "Grandpa? Father? Thank you for everything you ever did for me."

"Little did we know that there would be **four** other Ultimate Warriors! You see, child? You are never truly alone," reassured Old Bird.

"It really has been a blessing to see you again, child. Take care of your friends for us. True friendship is very scarce, and you must never take it for granted," requested Gray Voice.

"I will, Father. I'm just glad I got a chance to see you again."

Kel-Zich floated up to me and held a bundle out for me that I recognized was my old space suit. I've always wondered where it ran off to. "Here, child. I have adjusted it in order to accommodate your new Ylla wings." I took it and pressed the button on the tag in the back. Another blinding flash of light, and my sailor suit was replaced with Colette's costume. Heh. With my wings, I really did look like Colette now!

"Thanks for everything, Kel-Zich. I promise I'll never forget everything you did for me."

Samus pulled out my Nintendo DS and preceded to hand it over to me, but I held up my hand, declining, "No. You can keep it, Samus. As something to…remember me by."

She slipped it back in one of her pockets and sighed. "Amy. You don't have to go this far for me! You really don't. You've already made it up to me with that birthday party…and letting me play those games…and—"

"Samus. When the last Metroid died, the galaxy lost the promise of using them for the power of good…but you lost the best friend you ever had. You know that, don't you? Ever since I've read this book…" —I pulled out the Metroid Fusion instruction manual and showed her— "I guess I've already decided in my heart, that if I were to ever meet you…I'd give you the happy ending you've always been looking for. No matter what the cost might be. And besides, if it weren't for you…I'd never be able to meet the best friends I've ever had." I turned to my Pokémon friends and smiled, blinking tears out of my eyes.

The four of us proceeded to follow her inside the ship, but Kel-Zich grasped my shoulder and explained, "Actually, all of you can now fly by yourselves now. I know you can. You are Ultimate Warriors now, after all."

As if on cue, Kirby also showed Grovyle and Chikorita their own Jet Star and Warpstar. They looked at each other, smiled, and then hopped on. Big Amy hopped on her Slick Star, and Kirby hopped on the Winged Star. I took at deep breath and activated my wings, spreading them out, ready to lead them all. Apparently, Samus' new orange ship had absolutely no space in the back to carry us, unlike the purple ship from the Galactic Federation. So we each had to fly on our own.

Adam groaned, "Aw, man! And after I was hoping it would be like old times…"

Samus interrupted him, "Adam. They're all just as powerful as I am, if not even more so. They won't do any good sitting behind us. We need all the power we can get."

"Fine, fine…" Adam grumbled something else we couldn't quite catch.

Kel-Zich had one final word to give to us. "Remember: Queen X **cannot **know about our Teleportation Warp Gate. The moment she does, she shall simply go back in time and destroy it so that her plan shall succeed…and this universe shall completely collapse."

We shuddered, but we gave him our word that we would never tell her anything.

The time came for us all to go. Samus charged up her ship's engine. Before I took off, though, I had one last word to give to everyone who'd be left behind. "Everyone? Thanks for saving our lives. Thanks for being so nice to us. If all people were like you guys, the galaxy really would be a better place. I promise I'll never forget you all, no matter what. And Kel-Zich?"

"Yes, Master of the Universe?" he replied.

"…You shall always be Master Kel-Zich to me," I concluded. I figured that it was okay to speak formally…just this once. After all, I would maybe never see any of them again. I then turned my face to the sky and whispered, "Goodbye…"

I launched into the air, with all of my friends beside me. Sometimes I looked back, but mostly, I kept my eyes forward, glued to the sky above. Adam didn't say anything in respect, and I guessed that Samus already explained everything to him. We rode through the troposphere…the stratosphere…the mesosphere…and finally, the thermosphere, seeing the void of space ahead of us. My spacesuit and the Pokémon's Oxygen Orbs protected us the whole way though.

In respect and in remembrance, the villagers played one more song for us…another Tarzan song, with lyrics modified to suit the situation.

_For the sake of the ones that you love,_  
_Two worlds, one family,_  
_Trust your hearts, never give up,_  
_So we can all be freeeeee!_

What a fitting end; to start with Tarzan and end with Tarzan. Big Amy and I sang along with them too. The music lent a kind of epically emotional weight that propelled us to go on no matter what. As we flew farther and farther away from Planet Chozodia, I thought back over the best four weeks of my life. They really were a close-knit community, and I would forever be grateful to them. I vowed to never forget them no matter what.

* * *

"AMY [you know who]!"

The sudden sound laced with fury and revulsion jolted my heart. The seven of us had just exited the cover of the Oort Nebula when we heard the voice I wished we didn't hear so soon. We looked up. There she was, flying on all eight of her dark wings. I gulped as I suddenly remembered why Kel-Zich's wings looked so familiar. She must have absorbed a Ylla too, somewhere. At least we were finally even.

She still looked like a nasty 22-year-old version of me, dressed entirely in a tight black bodysuit, wearing black lipstick. In short, she was just as much as a dark angel as before. But I wasn't afraid this time. Thanks to Gandrayda's aggressive efforts, I've become a little more inured to such cosmopolitan sights. Hanging close to her wings were Zork, Zark, and Zoroark, all with jet packs attached to their backs. I heard Samus and Adam gasp. Clearly, they'd thought these guys were done for.

"Nice to see that you're still alive and well," she sneered, her voice clearly dripping with sarcasm. "I see that you even brought your oh-so-precious friends along with you. And you picked up Blue Kirby too, huh? Amy Purima…that is so very, very you." She suddenly stopped within 100 feet of us and held her nose. "EW! Something stinks! Hmm…I wonder what it could be? Oh yeah. The only way you all could possibly be alive today. You're all part-Metroid now. I understand that Samus Aran here saw to that. Nasty piece of work."

Samus glared and replied, "Hey, I crashed the BSL station—I threw my career as a Bounty Hunter away—to preserve galactic peace! The Chozo respect all life in the galaxy **except **you X Parasites, so I figured, that was as good a reason as any! Only HE had to come in and mess things up…" She pointed at Zoroark.

"A happy coincidence that I exploited to do my job. Just be lucky their incompetence bought you a little more time."

At that, her lackeys seemed to shiver a bit, but then quickly regained their composure. "Oh, don't worry," sniggered Zoroark. "Our grand mistress can easily handle little Metroid squirts like you."

"Yeh, 'cuz yer just a bunch of n00bs!" shot Zark.

"& u know whut Wii do 2 n00bs!" added Zork.

My heart was hammering rapidly, but I calmed myself down to make a snappy remark. "Oh, really? Sorry, guys. I think you'll find that we're not so n00b-ish anymore."

"I see…" muttered Queen X. "This is where you've been for the past four weeks. I shall admit it confused me at first as to why Ridley-X was still alive in this dimension, but when he disappeared around this general location about two weeks ago, instead of reporting to me like he was supposed to, I became suspicious. Sure enough, you are all here ready to take me on."

I involuntarily gasped as I thought back to the day I gained Ylla powers. How did she know about Ridley-X?

"You also gained Ylla DNA too, didn't you, Amy [you know who]? Watch out. Get too many transfusions like that and you'll end up like a genetic disaster area, mutant freak." She cackled before continuing. "And Kel-Zich's DNA, too. What do you know? Great minds think alike." She then extended her wings for emphasis.

I was flabbergasted. "How—I mean—he's still—but—Huhhhhh?" Not one of my most intelligent moments, but it was clearly impossible! How could she gain Kel-Zich's DNA too? He was still alive!

"Allow me to explain. In the original timeline, before I ordered Zoroark to drag you here himself"—she patted him on the head, and he chuckled and grinned at me—"Ridley-X also managed to escape from the crashed BSL Research Station. Like two weeks ago, he flew all the way to this general area of space. He discovered where the Chozo were hiding, and proceeded to destroy the whole village, and then used his X Parasite army to absorb them all, including Kel-Zich."

We all gasped and glanced at each other. Seems like we were all thinking the same thing. If we weren't there, everyone would've died the day Ridley-X came. Did Kel-Zich know that was coming and decided to give me the transfusion that day? No, he couldn't have. It had to be a serendipitous coincidence.

"So then Samus, Grovyle, Chikorita, and Amy Purima teamed up to defeat us, and they succeeded. But before it was too late, my Ylla servant went back in time and warned us about everything that would happen. And yes, Amy [you know who]. He was the one who let us know about your very existence. I absorbed his DNA before he disappeared into the vast recesses of time, of course. So I expected the same thing to happen in this timeline. Instead of Ridley-X, I find you! I thought I left you all for dead on Planet Portania, honestly! **Who** brought you all the way out here and **how?** What did they tell you, and where are they now?"

We gulped. This was it. There was no way we would break our promise to Kel-Zich. Ridley-X and his army nearly destroyed Yamamori Village. We couldn't put our friends back there at risk again. Not even their Weather Shield was powerful enough to keep Queen X out—she and her amorphous X Parasite subjects could just slip though the little cracks left open for rain. I was most worried about Kirby blowing our cover, but luckily, he was as smart as the rest of us and kept his mouth shut.

Queen X glared. "Fine, then. Guess we'll have to fight you first. I brought all my little friends along with me too. Told you great minds think alike."

She spread her wings and shot a dark laser upward through the vast depths of space. Slowly, within a few seconds, a sight descended upon us that made us all gasp. There were dozens—no, hundreds—of Space Pirate warships that materialized from behind her. "It's the whole fleet. She's taken control of the whole freakin' Space Pirate fleet!" whispered Adam in disbelief.

"No way…how…?" I was speechless.

"What do we do? They never trained us how to fight an ARMY!" whispered Big Amy in desperation.

"Give up already! Wii so totally out# u!" sniggered Zark.

"Yeh! Dere's like a bajillion of us, & only 7 of u!" agreed Zork.

"Hey, that's not fair! You're cheating!" accused Chikorita.

Queen X cackled, "Heheheheh…you are SO naïve, little Chikorita. Haven't you heard an old Earth saying? It goes like this: All's fair in love and war! Some of you have probably yet to learn how it applies to love—I mean, romance. Hmm?" She gazed down at us condescendingly.

Big Amy, Kirby, Grovyle, and I all glared.

"And this…is most definitely…WAR! My own personal Clone War against all of you!" she screeched, gathering a ton of dark energy around her. We gasped. War? More like genocide.

"War, huh? I suspected as much. But, really? You're using the whole fleet just to get rid of us? I still think that's overkill," replied Samus.

"Welcome to the war, filthy little Metroid brats!" Then she turned to her fleet and shouted, "ATTACK!"

Every single warship powered on their laser cannons. Samus was right. It **was **overkill. Queen X really wasn't taking any chances. We were so screwed. But at least we had to try. I thought of a plan fast.

"Everyone try to circle this fleet! Let's go, go, GO!" I ordered, and then sped away just as all those lasers shot at us.

Luckily, it seemed that they all responded as fast as I did. I flapped my wings as hard as I could and charged, performing barrel rolls to dodge the lasers. If any tried to hit, my force field generated by my Ylla energy and spacesuit combined was enough to completely repel it. I flew and flew, but I still couldn't find where the fleet ended. It was insane. And to make matters worse, Queen X flew after me personally. I shot pink energy beams at every weak point in the ships I could find, but I couldn't be sure that I was actually having much effect, as I flew too fast to see how the ships were doing.

I tried several tactics; including seeing if I could use my enhanced reflexes to zoom at a ship and turn away at the last second, hoping Queen X would crash right into it. But they never worked. She would always dodge just at the last second. In fact, I began to get a sinking feeling that she was anticipating my every move.

She was. Right when I cleared the field of ships, she zoomed right in front of me, too close for me to dodge. Before I knew it, all eight of her wings strangled me in place. "You're gotten much better…" she whispered in my ear, "But not nearly good enough! I'm no ordinary X Parasite! I can combine the powers of everyone I've ever absorbed!" And despite my shields, her dark energy continued to surge through me.

Just then, Samus and Adam shot several powerful lasers at Queen X from behind, forcing her to release me. I flew away. Just then, Samus shouted at me, "Amy, wait! There's a way to self-destruct all of these ships at once!"

I paused. I didn't expect that something like that would actually exist. "There is?"

Queen X recovered instantly, so we zoomed away. Samus shot more laser cannons at her to create a diversion. "Yes! Their mothership, the biggest on in the center! At the top, there's a control room with a self-destruct button. Get everyone together and GO!"

I called out on my radio, "Team Pecha, Kirby, follow me!"

Luckily, they managed to follow me without too much trouble, despite the fact that the three Z's were hot on their tails. All together, the seven of us managed to weave our way though the laser cannons of the warships AND stave the four villains off our tails. Easier said than done, obviously. Let's just say that lots and lots of barrel rolls were involved. Finally, we managed to put lots of distance between them by the time we reached the mothership. We all crashed right though the window of the bridge and blasted the Space Pirates manning the controls. The whole scene reminded me of a similar scene from Metroid Prime 3: Corruption—What am I saying? No time for that!

"I'll activate the self-destruct! You guys defend Adam!" ordered Samus, somersaulting out. She ran up to the console and furiously pressed several buttons. I conjured up the most powerful energy shield I could, repelling all the laser cannon fire and bouncing them back to where they came from. Just then, an overwhelming force broke through my shield and blasted Adam and us against the far wall. It was Queen X. I figured we couldn't hide from her for long. I couldn't let her disrupt Samus, so I charged with all of my might right at her.

We crashed, and it was like an energy tug-of-war, but in reverse. I pushed as hard as I could, but she was clearly stronger. I could only hope that it was enough time for Samus to finish her job. At least my friends helped to stave off the three Z's from interrupting me.

Suddenly, Queen X spread her eight wings across both sides of the room and pressed the four hidden buttons on each side, activating her secret weapon. The whole room was booby-trapped with hidden grenades that exploded in a mess of dark gas. To my surprise, the gas flew right through my shields and my suit, and rushed down my throat. It sent lashes of pain through my esophagus, causing me to collapse and choke a lot. To my dismay, the same thing happened to my friends, and Samus. She sputtered, "I…I know this…"

"Of course you do," mocked Queen X. "This is a sample of the poisonous atmosphere from Dark Aether that can penetrate spacesuits. Zoroark really liked it there. And the native Ing were gracious enough to provide me with a modified sample that specially affected organisms…with Metroid tissue. Good night!" My heart sank. How the heck did she come up with the plan of going to a place from Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, a place that Samus destroyed, for that matter? Man, she must've been busy in that other dimension the past four weeks.

As I lost consciousness, I couldn't help but worry that she killed us all too soon. I heard the three Z's callous laughter. "U snooz, u looz!" taunted Zark.

Zork added, "Grand mistress! U pwned dem! U r so l33t!"

"w00t! w00t! w00t! w00t!"

Not again…

* * *

I was still alive?

I blinked my eyes open, feeling sick in the stomach from the effects of that dark gas. I couldn't move my arms, or my body, for some reason. I looked down to find out why…and gasped. They clamped metal bands around me and stuck me to an operating wall again! I looked around and found that Big Amy, Chikorita, Grovyle, Samus, and Kirby were all similarly bound. They were all waking up too. For a second, I was worried that we were on the Space Pirate Homeworld again, but upon closer investigation, the whitewashed walls looked a bit different. Maybe we were. I wasn't sure.

"Yo! Grand mistress! Dey woke up!" shouted Zark's voice.

"Zark, u dooshebag. I c dat alredi." I blinked. Queen X could speak in chatspeak, too?

She leapt down from the dark ceiling—dark because there were no lights up there—and landed right in front of us. Zork, Zark, and Zoroark came down from behind her. She glimpsed my bewildered expression and smiled. "Yes, Amy. I can talk like them. I can talk like anyone I meet, for that matter. Just reason number 35 as to why I deserve to be the real Master of This Universe, and not you! I'M the real Amy [you know who] now! So we couldn't stop that accursed Samus Aran from blowing up our entire fleet. Good for you. But guess what? She forgot to blow up this last one. So we win, in the end."

I glared at her. "What do you want, Queen X? Especially if you're not going to kill us?"

She grasped my chin, hard. "Oh, I'm going to kill you, all right. But before I do, you're going to tell me everything you learned within the past few weeks. And the name is Amy [you know who]. Call me Amy."

"You don't deserve that name. That's mine!" I retorted. Normally, I'd be way too scared to say anything at all, much less come up with snappy responses. But in one of my psychological training exercises, Kel-Zich taught me that captors want you to be too scared to talk. If you snap back, it'll make them think twice and keep you at a distance.

She didn't seem fazed in the least, though. She leaned in close and hissed, "Tell me how they beamed you all the way out here and what they told you! Tell me everything!"

It took all my effort to stare at her straight into her brown eyes laced with orange X-Parasite gleams, but I managed to. (Another tactic to prove to captors that you aren't afraid of them.) "Why should I? I thought you already knew everything I knew," I replied in the calmest matter-of-fact voice I could muster.

She sent a surge of dark energy through me. "Don't play dumb!" she hissed. "You know I can't copy you again now that you have Metroid DNA! Now tell me!"

"No!" I asserted. "You're just going to go there and kill everyone, like Ridley-X tried to do!" After all, Kel-Zich, Old Bird, Gray Voice, Gandrayda, Celebi, Los-Nom, Plu-Thrim, and the rest of the Chozo villagers were all so good to us. I would never sell out my friends or reveal the existence of that Teleportation Warp Gate no matter what. No way I would let Queen X go back in time and cause any time paradoxes or nasty stuff like that.

Another thought suddenly occurred to me. I remembered this feeling before. I shouted as loud as I could, "And besides, I already told Samus and Grovyle everything I knew, and they still nearly killed me! **Just how stupid you think I am?**"

Samus and Grovyle gasped in remembrance at the same time. Grovyle then added, as a matter-of-fact, "Oh yeah…she has a point."

For a moment, Queen X was at a loss for words. Then her expression grew dark and swiftly replied. "Oh, yes. Part of my plan back then. Very well. If you won't tell…perhaps one of your friends will." She looked at my friends one by one, who by now were all fully awake.

She repeated the interrogation to each of them, but nothing worked. Chikorita almost spilled the beans, though, nearly scaring us all to death. Kirby (who still had his Jigglypuff ears, and therefore, Metroid DNA) tried to suck her up, but she blasted his mouth and had Zoroark cover it up with a steel lid of some sort. "Hmm…this isn't working," she muttered. Suddenly, an idea came into her mind, and she smiled nastily. "But my plans with YOU have always succeeded…and it will this time too!"

Out of one of her wings popped an X Parasite. It immediately formed into a long, furry, disgusting spider-like creature, with eight twitching legs, sixteen beady black eyes, and a pair of long, sharp fangs. I gasped. Sure, Kel-Zich finally allowed me to conquer my fear of spiders…but only pictures of them. I wasn't exactly prepared for the real thing.

"Now where did I find this little bugger again…? Planet Cavious or something. Anyway, this little guy is like a cross between that worm you saw in that recent Star Trek movie and that spider from that one story you read in The Artemis Fowl Files. He is a parasite of his own. He enters the host through their mouths, crawls down their throats into their stomachs, and slices them from the inside out. Then when he has eaten enough, he bursts through their chests in the same mind-numbing horrifying manner as the titular parasite from Alien. You never actually saw that R-rated movie, did you, you goody-little-two-shoes child? Yet you already know what it can do. Yeah. Praise be to Spaceballs!"

My friends stared in confusion, and so did the three Z's. All those cultural references only seemed to prove her point that she wished to be the true me, yet I was so paralyzed with terror, I could barely hear anything. My eyes were fixated on the nasty hairy little spider, and my heart pounded faster than ever.

"This is your last chance. If you do not tell me who beamed you here, how they did it, what you learned, and where they are now, I will personally shove this guy down your throat and watch while he rips you apart from the inside. Then I will do the same to each of your friends if they do not cooperate, either. Either way, I win."

I stared in terror, unable to respond.

"No way! You can't do this to her!" shouted Chikorita in dismay.

Queen X looked bored. "Didn't I tell you? All's fair in love and war."

"She meant that we know that this is all a bluff. You're probably just going to shove that thing down her throat even if she tells you everything," clarified Grovyle.

"I am not bluffing. He is one of my loyal servants, and I control him at will. If you cooperate, I shall turn him back into an X-Parasite and absorb him. Well, Metroid child? Make your choice."

I still couldn't speak. How could I? I'd never break my promise and cause that deadly time paradox…even if…that freakish spider parasite…crawled down my throat and ripped me apart…from the inside…

"Don't tell her anything, Amy! Don't tell her!" whispered my friends urgently.

"Hey, shut up!" barked Zoroark, cutting at them with a Night Slash. Despite how much he hurt them, I still wouldn't back down. Four weeks ago, this might've been the point when I would've cracked and told her everything just to save myself. But not this time. I was stronger. I wouldn't tell her anything.

"Well?" she prompted.

I mustered up all of my courage, took a deep breath, and shouted, "Why the heck would you even DO this? How low can you possibly GET? I would never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER resort to something this…this…brutal! You say you deserve my name, but if you did, you'd find a way to have us WANT to tell you everything! You'd try to gain our trust the same way Dusknoir gained Big Amy's and Chikorita's! Yeah, that's right! I admit it! I'm like Dusknoir that way and that way only! I wouldn't freaking **coerce** people! That's just not me! You're worse than Dusknoir! You can copy our bodies, but never our souls! At your core, you are Queen X and always will be! NO…MATTER…WHAT!"

That was the most rousing speech I've ever given, and was proud of myself for thinking of it on the spot. The stunned silence from everyone was proof. Finally, Zark commented, "U know…Why didn't Wii think of dat? Dat's actually b a gr8 idea, right, Grand Mistress? Pretend 2 b some1 dey trust &—*gack!*"

She yanked him by the throat and threw him across the room, but her eyes were still focused on me, and they were murderous. "Fine. You've made your choice. I hope you beg for mercy and shriek in terror so loudly, it'll actually be worth my while." She swooped up to me and pinched my nose. Hard.

"NOOOOOO!" my friends shouted in dismay.

I couldn't breathe. I had to open my mouth for air, but the moment I did, she'd shove that spider down my throat, and that'd be the end of me. In desperation, I tried breathing through my teeth in anger. At least there were a few air holes since my teeth didn't exactly line up 100% accurately. The spider leapt at my teeth and smashed its pincers against them, but I still held on. Why didn't they ever prepare me for this on Planet Chozodia? I couldn't see a way out of this anymore. Eventually, the little bugger would succeed in smashing though, and that'd be the end of the story. I squeezed my eyes shut. I could only wait for the end. And none of my friends could even begin to help save me this time.

Big Amy started to glow yellow again, I think, but I couldn't see for sure. Queen X was pinching my nose so hard that I couldn't even move my head. My teeth hurt like heck, and my gums were bleeding all over from where the spider attacked. I couldn't take another blow. 2½ years of orthodontist work down the drain would be the least of my worries.

It leapt. I shouted the most blood-curdling shout I could muster, hoping the sound waves would somehow stop it. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Queen X laughed evilly, certain her evil plan would succeed.

Suddenly…

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

We heard a booming, hollow voice shout out, and an unseen ripple in the air sliced the spider in two. It dissolved back into an X Parasite, which flew too fast to change course and landed right into my mouth, becoming absorbed though my body in the process. Yum! Tasted like Jell-O.

Queen X stood still in shock and anger. "…Who was that?" she whispered murderously.

"I…I don't know," numbly replied Chikorita. "It sounded like it could be Dialga…or maybe Palkia…"

"Or maybe…**Arceus**," she concluded. "Yes! It WAS Arceus! Only HE would have the power to break through my dimensional barriers! Why didn't I think of that earlier? I'll have to take care of that guy." She strode away from us and blasted the door on the other side, opening it and stepping through. "Lackeys!" The three of them stood up straight. "Continue the interrogation." With that, she left, and the door closed behind her.

We all stared in stunned silence. "No…not Lord Arceus…" moaned Grovyle.

"What? Who's Lord Arceus?" Samus desperately asked.

"He's the most powerful legendary Pokémon in the world. He watches over everyone and everything, and keeps the world in balance, too. If Queen X kills and copies him, our world…Planet Portania…will be doomed."

The door opened again, and Queen X stepped back through to deliver another word to us. "Oh, and one more thing."

"Whaaaaat?" we groaned. What was it now?

"Don't get any funny ideas, Amy [you know who]. Celebi can't send you back in time anymore. Neither can Dialga. Even Palkia's dimension-traveling system is down. The only chance you have of weaseling your way out of this mess is with Arceus…which is practically zip since there's no way you'll ever beat me there. See ya! Have a nice life!" With that, she finally exited through the door, cackling maniacally.

I was stunned. "…I'm an idiot," I uttered in dismay.

"No you're not! What's wrong?" asked Samus.

"Celebi. I should've asked her to send me back in time or something…before Queen X trapped me in like this." My Pokémon friends gasped in realization. I hung my head in shame. "But it's too late. If we can't get out of here and find Arceus in time…I'll be stuck here. And if I'm stuck here, then it won't matter if we can beat Queen X or not, because…I'm gonna die."

To be continued…

**Coming up next: Queen X is on her way to Planet Portania to kill Arceus, and we have to stop her before she reaches him! But can we even escape from…wherever we are? And speaking of evil people, Team Pecha always thought **Dusknoir's Redemption **would be completely impossible. Or is it?**


	26. Dusknoir's Redemption

Chapter 28: Dusknoir's Redemption

Meanwhile, the meanie-butts just stood there, scratching their heads. "But I can't even** make** any X Parasites that turn into parasitic spiders," complained Zoroark.

"So whut teh heck r Wii supposed 2 do now?" wondered Zark.

Zork stared at us and remarked, "I dunno. But lookin' at dem n00bs like dis reminds me of somethin' Wii did a while back…now whut wuz it…?"

We were still clamped to the wall, restrained from using any of our attacks to escape. Kirby's mouth was still sealed, so all of his shouts were muffled. Finally, Big Amy couldn't take it anymore. "Quit fighting and get us out of here!" she shouted to them.

"Yeah…What she said!" agreed Chikorita.

Zoroark glared at them and replied, "Too bad for you, Amy and Chikorita," spitting out their names like it was a vile cuss word. "Queen X gave us strict orders. We'll have to torture you until you tell us everything. Now, what kind shall we do?" He then paced back and forth, thinking. "Should I make you eat worm guts? Pour acid on you? Test out that new yanking machine? Bring in one of our Space Pirate generals? Trap you in one of your tragic pasts again? Or maybe—"

"Ooo, I know, I know! Pick me, Boss-Man! Pick me!" shouted Zork in enthusiasm, jumping up and down.

Zoroark sighed and replied, "Yes, Zork…What is it?"

"Let's dissect 'em like Wii did last time!"

My face paled as those horrific memories came flooding back. "No…"

I should've held my mouth. Oh wait, I couldn't. My arms were tied. Right then, Zoroark snapped his head in my direction and smiled nastily. "Of course. You are a genius. So. Boys?"

They saluted him. "Yeh, Boss-Man?"

"Prepare for dissection!"

"w00t! w00t! w00t! w00t!"

They followed him up a sloped walkway to a command terminal hanging above the door that Queen X just left through, laughing evilly. Zark and Zork sniggered such things as, "I call teh probe!" and "No, I wanted teh scalpel!" My heart raced again. How could we barely escape one torture method, only to fall into another? Samus hissed at me in disappointment, "Amy!"

"I'm sorry! It was involuntary!" I desperately explained.

The meanie-butts activated the command terminal. A load of sharp-looking implements popped out from the command module, all attached to a table-looking thing that was attached to a metal arm. The arm moved the table full of sharp implements so close to us, we were worried that we'd get poked. Luckily, it stopped. The meanie-butts stepped down and walked right up to us, looking scarier by the second. Zoroark surveyed us all and asked, "Hmm…now who should I work on first? Perhaps Team Pecha? Or maybe that blasted Grovyle?"

Zark cut in, "Teh has-been-famous-but-now-n00bish Bounty Hunter Sa-moose! U've gotta pick her!"

"Yeh! Dem non-human n00bs have reelly weerd biology thingies dat make no sense!" added Zork.

Zoroark thought for a few more seconds and suggested, "What about…HER?" His eyes aimed straight at me, and I gasped again. "After all…she probably has more of that resurrection fluid."

The two Space Pirates started jumping up and down in excitement. Zork raved, "Yeh, yeh, Wii seriously need more of dem l33t 1-Up froot joose drinks! Man, dat wuz gr8! &, &, our l33t homies still wanna know sum' of their bio…biololo—whut wus it again?"

"Biologies, Zork," explained Zoroark.

"U're a genius, Boss-Man! U r so l33t!" agreed Zark.

"I try, Zark, I try." He pulled out a dissection implement and flashed it to them. "Well? Shall we? Watch…and learn." He stepped towards me.

"N—now wait…hang on a second here…!" I panicked. "Let's be reasonable!"

He leaned right into my face and hissed, "Reasonable? Weren't you listening to our grand mistress? 'All's fair in love and war', remember? This is most definitely war. The Clone War. No, the clone war to end all clone wars!" He stepped back, but only for a bit. "Well, well, well. Amy [you know who]. I still clearly remember the day I pulled you out of your home dimension. You have no idea how long I've waited for this day…for you to be at my mercy…instead of the other way around! Now, I shall give you one last chance. How did you get here and what were you doing these last four weeks?"

I glared and shot back, "I never even knew you, Zoroark. But I have a feeling that even if I told you, you'd still go through with it, just like Queen X. You're bluffing."

He glared. "Fine then. Suit yourself. I really hope wherever you came from actually prepared you for the trauma of probes. There will be no anesthesia this time. Oh and by the way…we're filming this right now so that all the Space Pirates can watch and learn." He pointed to the video camera in a corner of the ceiling.

"WHAT?" I shouted in dismay. A video camera? No one ever told me about that! Not only did I have to go through this embarrassing (Ugh! I hate that word!) humiliation again, it had to be made public? But he wasn't taking no for an answer. I shut my eyes. I couldn't look. The dissection needle was aimed straight for my heart. When it was mere inches away, I shouted, "No, no, no, no, NOOOOOOOOOO!"

Suddenly, another ripple of invisible energy ripped through the air, knocking the dissection implement out of Zoroark's hand. "Ow! What the flagnog…?" he exclaimed.

At the same time, Samus exclaimed, "Ow, ow! Owowowowow! So THAT'S what it was…"

"Samus? What is it?" asked Grovyle, genuinely concerned.

"It's this thing here—OW!—poking me in my side! OW! Probably some Flux Capacitor!"

We all stared in confusion. "Flux capacitor?" asked Zoroark.

"Yeah! That's what's been making those ripples of energy whenever you guys get too close. Queen X must've forgotten to take them out of here. Wanna see?"

I was really confused by this point, but I just watched as Zark and Zork ran up to Samus, rubbing their claws in anticipation. Zoroark was just as confused as I was, but he followed them anyway. "It's right down there," she explained, trying to move her waist away from the confines of the titanium band. Zark peered down and simply replied, "I don't C nothin'."

"Of course not, you idiots. It's wedged between the band and this wall. Really tiny, too. Open it up. You'll see what I mean."

Zoroark narrowed his eyes and muttered, "Now wait a second here…!" right when Zork smacked one of the many buttons on the wall. Instantly, all of Samus' shackles popped open, and she leapt into action. She karate-chopped Zark, kicked Zork in the jaws, and shoved them against Zoroark. Then she unleashed a flurry of martial-arts moves so fast I couldn't describe them fast enough even if I wanted to. She moved so quickly, she might as well have kicked up a cartoonish cloud of dust. After she pummeled them all, she kicked out her laser whip, wrapped them up, and threw them against the table of dissection stuff, snapping them all off the table. They slammed against the far wall with all of those implements on their backs. Ouch.

Apparently, she had already swiped Zark and Zork's hexagonal Star Fox-like reflector shields. She threw them like ninja stars into the video camera in the upper corner of the room, shattering it. Finally, she picked up the Suit Deactivator Beam gun off of the floor where Zoroark dropped it and cracked it in half against her knee. Instantly, her Power Suit and my spacesuit reactivated.

"Whooooaaa…" we gasped in amazement.

She walked up to the wall with the load of buttons on it and pressed them all. We were released. Right when I was about to congratulate her for coming up with such a genius plan, she explained, "I have more experience with these kind of situations than you guys. There was no such thing as a Flux Capacitor. At least, none that I'm aware of," she explained. We stared.

"Huh?" asked Kirby.

"I made that up. I actually have no idea what was causing those disruptions, but judging by how Queen X reacted, I'm guessing it was because of that Arceus guy. Now let's go."

* * *

Samus led the way. We ran through the hallways and rode up elevators. There was the occasional Space Pirate that stood in our way, but Samus dispatched them all quite easily. Finally, we arrived at the place where we crash-landed. Samus' ship and all four Air Ride Machines were still there, and so was the giant hole in the roof we made.

"Sorry, Lady. You know I can barely move in a place like this," apologized Adam.

Samus somersaulted in and quickly replied, "That's fine. I wasn't really counting on you to crash into that torture chamber. Now we've gotta get to Planet Portania before Queen X."

"Planet Portania? AGAIN? Why?" he asked, exasperated.

"To save Arceus," I explained. "I'm pretty sure he saved us all back there. If Queen X gets to him first, and captures us all again, we'll be screwed."

"Hurry it up already!" shouted Grovyle, blasting off on his Jet Star.

I activated my Ylla wings and took off after them. As soon as Samus and Adam cleared the Space Pirate ship, they started charging up the hyperdrive. "You guys might want to hang on, okay?" suggested Adam. So we did, all five of us. Big Amy on the Slick Star, Kirby on the Winged Star, Chikorita on the Warpstar, and Grovyle on the Jet Star all hung on to various handholds on the ship, while I grabbed onto a handhold right above the cockpit window.

The hyperdrive activated. Turned out that we didn't need to hold on as tightly as I thought we would. But at the same time, I thought it'd be a bad idea to let go, so I didn't. I enjoyed the sight of the wormhole as we sped down it, taking in the rainbow colors of lights from billions of stars as we traveled many times faster than the speed of light. It was only 30 minutes before we exited hyperspace and saw the entirety of Planet Portania below us, once again.

Grovyle explained for us, "Okay. Arceus lives in a secret place called the Sky Temple, and getting there won't be easy. We need both Dialga and Palkia's permission so that they'll open the entrance for us."

"So we have to visit them both at Temporal Tower AND Spatial Rift?" asked Chikorita.

He looked pained, but he told the truth. "…Yeah. That's pretty much it."

"GAH! If only they taught us how to use Teleport…" groaned Big Amy.

"There's no other choice, is there? Grovyle, point us to where we should go first," ordered Samus.

"Temporal Tower is this way," he replied, pointing in the direction of the sea to the west. "Follow me."

He flew on ahead of us, along with Chikorita and Big Amy. I surveyed the scenery along the way. The continent and the ocean looked just as I remembered it in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, but there were a lot more futuristic-looking villages scattered along the way. But as I remembered Temporal Tower, a little detail unnerved me. "Hey, Grovyle? Since Temporal Tower is hidden between split-seconds and all that, don't we need to ride on Lapras or someone like that?"

"I don't think so, Amy. These Air Ride Machines—and you—can fly on water, right? We should have no problem at all." He looked ahead and shouted to us, "Over there, where the waves are all twisted up! Follow me!"

He swooped down to sea level and hovered right above it, heading to an odd distortion ahead. We all followed suit. Just like in the game, the sea receded farther and farther from us, until we were flying again. We flew thought the wall of light and ended up in a place with yellow clouds surrounding us. Purple lightning coursed through the clouds, and a giant floating island that I remembered as the Hidden Land floated right in front of us.

"Whoooooaaaa…" uttered Samus and Adam in awe.

"I remember this! I remember this! It's just like in the games!" I shouted in excitement.

"We're flying! We're flying! WA-HOOOOO!" cheered Big Amy and Chikorita.

Kirby piped up, "It's fwoating! It's fwoating! I wuv fwoating islands!"

"Never thought I'd live to see the day I'd ever come back," whispered Grovyle. He then angled his Jet Star up and shouted to us, "There's Temporal Tower! Follow me!"

Chikorita stared in disbelief, "What are you talking about? Don't we need the Rainbow Stoneship—Oh yeah! We can fly! WE CAN FLY NOW!"

Big Amy and I couldn't help but laugh. Samus, Adam, and Kirby were just confused. Nevertheless, we followed Grovyle to the top of the tower on a rock formation floating high above the Hidden Land. I looked down at it to see the forest below. Then the rocky ruins, and finally the square pyramid Mayan-inspired altar thingy where the Rainbow Stoneship was. Looked like it hadn't changed at all in 500 years. "Oh yeah…where we all said goodbye…" whispered Big Amy. She and Chikorita silently began to cry.

Grovyle looked behind at them and whispered, "I know, I know. I really missed you guys too." As I looked ahead at Temporal Tower, thankfully without a red thundercloud hanging over it, I realized this whole place gave me a sense of déjà vu. I mean, this was where the final battle took place for them. And now, our final battle with Queen X seemed to be coming on fast. It felt sort of fitting, yet sad at the same time.

Finally, Grovyle took us in for a landing on the column-lined roof. The one and only 17 foot tall Dialga (not Primal Dialga!) stood in front of the Time Gear altar, waiting for us. They hopped off of their Air Ride Machines, and I slowed down to the yellow-brick ground, deactivating my wings. I followed my friends' lead and bowed to the guy in reverence.

"AMY, CHIKORITA, AND GROVYLE, THE HEROES OF TIME. WHAT BRINGS THE THREE OF YOU HERE?" he boomed in a hollow voice I always imagined him using. "OH? AND WHO ARE THESE LIFE FORMS?"

Grovyle introduced us. "This is Amy [you know who], a human very much like Amy here. This blue puffball is Kirby, a Star Warrior." He then turned to the orange ship and introduced them. "And in there are Samus Aran and Adam Malkovich. They helped bring Amy and Chikorita here from the past. We're all friends here."

Big Amy stepped forward and explained, "Dialga! We need your help! There's this evil lady called Queen X that's coming here to kill Arceus, and she looks exactly like my friend Little Amy here!"

"ARCEUS?" he asked.

Chikorita continued, "You know him, right? Little Amy said that he's the one that's higher than you, and that he's the one who brought Grovyle and everyone in the future here back to life, right?"

"THAT IS CORRECT. I PRESUME YOU ALL ARE HERE TO REQUEST MY PERMISSION TO OPEN THE SKY TEMPLE?"

"Yeah yeah yeah!" agreed Big Amy and Chikorita.

"THEN I DO NOT SEE WHY NOT. PERMISSION GRANTED." He then stepped back to issue a mighty roar into the sky. "GRROOOOOAAAR!" It sounded just like the roar in the games, but at 100 times the loudness or so. He really blasted my eardrums.

He then showed us a projection with a view of the world outside. There was a mass of pure-white clouds high in the sky. Right then, at its base, a tiny pinpoint of blue light lit up. Adam remarked, "That was it? That was all we had to do?"

"CORRECT. I TRUST THAT YOU ALL SHALL SAVE THE WORLD ONCE AGAIN. GOOD LUCK, CHILDREN."

So after we thanked him, we flew out of the Hidden Land. I strongly suspected that the main reason he trusted us so readily was the fact that Team Pecha thanked him like crazy all the way back then. Palkia, on the other hand…I wasn't so sure about. We followed Grovyle to a place to the far east of the continent, where Spatial Rift lay hidden. But I didn't recognize the way at all, and neither did Big Amy nor Chikorita, since they were warped there by Palkia himself. But just at that moment, Palkia himself warped right in front of us in a ball of yellow light. "AMY! CHIKORITA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? I THOUGHT YOU WERE JUST EXITING MY DOMAIN."

Samus and Adam reacted badly. "Zoroark!" gasped Samus. Adam charged up the ship's lasers and growled, "You won't get away this time, you sadist!"

I flew right in front of them, motioning for them to stop. "Whoa whoa whoa whoa WHOA whoa! Time out, guys! I'm pretty sure he's the real Palkia!"

"HUH? WHAT ABOUT THE REAL ME?" he asked. So of course, after setting the Air Ride Machines to hover in place, we had to explain everything to him, especially the part about how Zoroark liked to morph into him. "…UH-OH. SO YOU ARE SAYING THAT THE TWO OF YOU I MET BEFORE…WAS PROBABLY ZOROARK?"

We heard a keening noise and looked up. The cloud already had a pink light lit up to the blue one, and right below it, a red light lit up. The three lights combined to shoot a beam down to the ground far away. "…I think you mean Queen X," I replied. The rest of my friends looked at Grovyle in confusion.

He smacked his forehead. "Of course! Sorry, guys. I forgot. We needed Giratina's permission, too."

"SOMEONE ELSE GOT INTO THE REVERSE WORLD, APPARENTLY," explained Palkia. He then turned to us and barked, "WELL? HURRY UP AND RESCUE ARCEUS BEFORE THIS QUEEN X OF YOURS FINDS HIM FIRST! JUDGING HOW SHE FOOLED ME EVEN AFTER DARKRAI PULLED THE SAME TRICK ON ME 500 YEARS AGO, HE WILL DEFINITELY BE IN TROUBLE!"

We changed course and did what he said.

Turned out that we had to land on the ground first and take the warp up to Sky Temple, as it wouldn't let us enter via the air. By that time, a crowd of Pokémon had already seen us and was following our shadows around. The warp point was in the middle of a crowd of mountain, in which Samus explained to me, "That's the place where I crash-landed! …500 years in the past, at least." Big Amy replied in excitement, "Maybe Quartzite Cave is still there!"

We landed right outside the mountain range. There was a path through the mountains this time. Samus somersaulted out of the ship. Grovyle led the way, followed by me, Big Amy, Kirby, Chikorita, and Samus, in that order. Unfortunately, a whole crowd of Pokémon seemed to choose that moment to swarm in front of us, blocking our way.

"His Royal Awesomeness, Prince…GROVYLE!" It was that same Exploud guy with his welcoming committee of trumpet-like Pokémon that I still had no idea who the heck they were. Kirby was absolutely stunned. "You're a PWINCE?" he exclaimed.

Grovyle slapped his forehead in exasperation. "Not now, guys!" he groaned. And then, to our surprise, he sharpened his Leaf Blades and smacked the entire welcoming committee (with the blunt edge, of course) into the stratosphere. In response to our bewildered expressions, he replied innocently, "Hey, a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do, right?"

The crowd of Pokémon noticed me next. "Look! A human!" one of them shouted. They charged. We gulped. The sight of the stampede froze me in place. I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. This was just like before. I started to panic.

And right when I would've turned back and run for my life…something inside me snapped.

My wings shot out. My arms glowed with energy. An energy shield materialized around me. Everyone stopped, about 5 feet away from me, and stepped back a bit. And I shouted, as loud and as angrily as I could, "That's IT! I've HAD it with you guys! All we need to do is get UP there before my EVIL TWIN kills Arceus and destroys your whole freakin' world! And what do you do? You try to play the same STUPID tricks on me since Day 1! It's always 'dissect this!' or 'probe that!' Where is your sense of CONSIDERATION, people? You're all supposed to be civilized Pokémon, for crying out loud! Do you have ANY idea what I've BEEN through? DO YOU? Now get out of our way before you make the same STUPID mistake you almost made 500 freakin' YEARS ago!"

It was deathly silent, except for when Big Amy whistled, "Wow…You're good, Little Amy!"

And then the crowd went wild again. "AMY?"

"There's ANOTHER Amy?"

"Lemme see! Lemme see!"

Then I heard a poisonous warbling voice that I remembered. "Hey! I know her!" Yeah. It was Toxicroak.

"GAH!" I couldn't take it any more. I smashed right through the crowd and followed Grovyle, with my friends right behind me. Any misgivings I might've had about kicking Pokémon butt were quickly drowned out by just how ticked off I was about how I was constantly being experimented on. I could barely hear a member of the crowd shout, "Hey! It's the legendary Team Pecha!" nor Big Amy and Chikorita constantly apologizing, "Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!" over and over again. At least they didn't have to hit anyone, thanks to my help. Grovyle whispered to Dusknoir ahead of him, "Now she knows how I felt."

Wait.

Dusknoir?

The 7-foot orb-like Ghost Pokémon happened to catch up to us, leading the way through the mountain pass into the valley where the warp point was. "Grovyle, my good fellow, you HAVE befriended some amusing compatriots during your recent sojourn!"

"You can say that again!" They laughed. By that point, the rest of the crowd ran away in terror, having never before seen a really ticked-off human demonstrating the full extent of her Ylla powers. Except Dusknoir, of course. He never seemed to be afraid of anything except dying. Seeing that the threat was gone, I calmed down, having my wings retreat into my back. Dusknoir was still staring at me oddly, and I suddenly felt a bit embarrassed (Ugh! I still hate that word!). "Um…hello, sir," I muttered sheepishly. "Sorry about that." I pointed my thumb to the retreating crowd behind me.

"Oh! Please, don't trouble yourself on my account, young miss! Nice to make your acquaintance! And you are—?"

"AAAAAAH! DUSKNOIR!" screamed Big Amy and Chikorita, finally noticing the guy. Samus sprung into action and somersaulted right over our heads, shouting, "YOU!"

Luckily, Grovyle had fast reflexes, and defended Dusknoir in time, knocking Samus back. "Jeez! Control yourselves, people! Can't you guys take ONE STEP here without freaking out or hitting someone? I keep telling you—he's a good guy now!" he groaned in exasperation.

"I know, right?" I then turned to Dusknoir and apologized, "I am SO, SO sorry about my friends, sir—"

"No offense taken, miss. Address me as Dusknoir, if you may! And you are…? Wait…If I recall correctly, Grovyle had already mentioned you. Of course! You are undeniably that same omniscient Amy [you know who] that they were debating over whether you were malicious or not!" Then he noticed Samus. "And you! You must be that cybernetically enhanced human, the Bounty Hunter Samus Aran! I believe it was your ship they all stowed away on."

I stared, dumbfounded. "Grovyle mentioned me to you already? When did that happen?"

"After he…you know…" explained Big Amy euphemistically.

"Inconceivable! You two have the exact same radiation frequencies emitting from the coronas of your very souls! How can you two exist in the same temporal and spatial locations? This defies the very laws that govern the fabric of the universe."

Grovyle couldn't take it anymore. "Oh…give me a break, already!" He smacked his forehead again, and even though I caught him in time, he still fainted, for the first time in his life.

So I was stuck in the uncomfortable position of carrying along the unconscious Grovyle while following Dusknoir and leading my three friends who didn't exactly trust him very much. We didn't have long to walk until we saw the warp point, but in the meantime, Dusknoir quizzed my omniscience ability by asking me random Pokémon trivia questions. I knew the answers…to about half of them. Looked like the Pokémon world changed a lot within the past 500 years. He also asked Samus to provide details about her job as a Bounty Hunter for the Galactic Federation, and Kirby to explain what he did as an official Star Warrior.

"So we just step in that glowing area, and it's supposed to beam us up there?" I asked.

"That's correct. At least, that's what I presume. I wonder if Grovyle will require the services of a Reviver Seed…"

He didn't. Right then, he just had to wake up. "Amy? What do you think you're doing?" he asked me suspiciously.

I overreacted again. "AAH! Nothing! Sorry!" I sputtered, dropping him.

"Calm down, calm down. I knew you were just trying to help me. Thanks." He then turned to the glowing circle. "Well, let's not waste any more time." So we all stepped in.

"Whoooaaaa…!" we all exclaimed. We felt our bodies being stretched up for a second, sending a really ticklish feeling down our spines. The next thing we knew, we felt ourselves being scrunched back to normal, and found ourselves suddenly standing on a mass of clouds. "So it COULD beam us up!" I concluded while looking up at the Greek-like temple-tower surrounded by a cylinder of white clouds in the shape of a hurricane. It glowed with the sparkling golden majesty of the sun's rays, nearly blinding us. It reminded me of a combination of Sky Tower from the first PMD games and Destiny Tower from the second. Who knew? Maybe it was Destiny Tower in the future.

"This is Sky Temple. It is Destiny Tower 500 years into the future," explained Dusknoir to Team Pecha. Hey! I was right!

Chikorita shivered as she looked down to the ground that must've been at least a mile below us. "W—w—w—w—w—we're pretty high up, huh? S—scary…" It was true. We could see the entire continent below us. The wind howled as it swept my hair along with it. It felt refreshing, yet really chilled me to the bone at the same time, despite my spacesuit. No wonder Chikorita was chattering.

"C—c—c—cold…" chattered Big Amy. Looked like I wasn't the only one who thought so.

"I know," replied Grovyle. Though he did his best to hide it, his face revealed all.

Dusknoir stared at us in confusion. "I fail to comprehend your discomfort. Grovyle, you and I endured much more chilling temperatures at such places like the Icicle Forest."

I just realized the reason, so I explained to Dusknoir. "Samus saved us all with Metroid DNA. It makes us immune to X Parasites, but makes us weaker to heat and cold. Speaking of which, Queen X might come any minute now. Why are you coming with us, Dusknoir? If she finds you, you're toast."

"Me? To bear witness to the exploits of such valiant children as you! No supposed 'parasite' can scare me away from the opportunity to assist in any way I am able. Even if I cannot comprehend what this 'Metroid DNA' you speak of."

"Okay…Suit yourself," I conceded, shrugging my shoulders.

With that, we finally entered through the tall open gates of the first floor of the temple, bordered by the glowing blue, pink, and red lights. I looked all around myself in wonder. There were massive yellow brick walls all around us, peppered by brilliant white clouds. I swore that some of those walls actually moved around sometimes. I uttered, "Wow. I just realized this. This is my first time going through a mystery dungeon, ever!"

"And mine," agreed Samus.

"Me too! Me too!" Kirby added.

Dusknoir turned to me and replied, "Oh, really? Well then. Allow me to explain. Mystery dungeons frequently materialize upon this planet. They are fluid spaces in which the walls are in flux at the constant rate of 3 feet per minute, and Pokémon that reside in such spaces have their brain chemistry temporarily altered. Their synapse speeds powering their aggressive instincts in the neocortex region of their cranium are amplified by a factor of 5.03, therefore spurring them to attack strangers on sight within .52 seconds, and—"

"LOOK OUT!" I shouted, pushing him out of the way of a bat-like creature that looked like an enemy from a Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles game, except that it had a heart for a single eye. Dusknoir simply responded with a Shadow Punch, dispatching the little bugger in one shot.

"No need for concern, Amy [you know who]. I am able to defend myself with more than enough sufficiency. Conserve your energy. Allow me to defend you too."

"Hey! Count me in, too!" Grovyle added.

"Okay…? I guess…" They seemed pretty dead-set on it, so I figured, why not?

So we ended up walking in this order: Dusknoir was the leader. Then Grovyle, me, Big Amy, Chikorita, Kirby, and finally, Samus. She could handle threats from the back just fine. I looked all around for stairs to the next floor, although I personally couldn't see how stairs could possibly reach the high 30-foot ceiling. Finally, we saw it. It wasn't actually stairs—it was a smaller version of the yellow warp circle that beamed us up here in the first place. "Now, the objective is to locate these devices on each floor quickly. Usually they take the form of stairsteps, but this time, this is what we are given. If we fail to locate these within the time limit, usually ten minutes, the dungeon shall eject us to the outside."

Right then, we all tried to pile onto the little circle, but Dusknoir held out an arm to stop us. "One more word. Only one of us needs to step in. Then we all move on to the next floor." To prove his point, he stepped in, and we all felt that warping sensation again. Then we found that we rose 30 feet in the air and landed on the 2nd floor.

"H—hey, Dusknoir? How many floors does this dungeon have, anyway?" I asked.

"I actually do not know. However, it cannot be more than 99."

Samus' jaw dropped, I think. "Ninety-nine? We don't have time for that! What if Queen X is here already?"

"Relax, ma'am. If I could execute a group of humans—no offense, young miss—frighten one of their own, pursue Grovyle for five years straight, endure two Roar of Times from Primal Dialga, survive his rage and a thrashing, become the most respected entrepreneur worldwide, AND handle the first extraterrestrial encounter, I am certainly most able to hasten your journey through this mystery dungeon before said female parasite. Don't you concur?" He spoke all of this while floating backwards and shooting Shadow Balls at each and every Pokémon that came our way, many of whom I suspected were Ghost-types.

"O…kay…?" she replied, in complete awe.

So we continued on like that, following Dusknoir through the shape-shifting mazes, defeating aggressive Pokémon, and finding the warp points to the next floor. It sort of felt like going through the Tower of Salvation from Tales of Symphonia, only it was a lot easier, more cheerful, and not quite as religious.

Along the way, Dusknoir just wouldn't stop talking. He claimed he could "exercise [his] vocal chords perpetually and it would only superficially damage [his] esophagus", and I believed him. He didn't even need water bottles, berries, or anything! It must be lucky being a Ghost-type. I didn't complain, though. I paid close attention to every word he said, and wished I could speak as intelligently more often.

Meanwhile, Big Amy and Chikorita were starting to get restless. "Hurry up already!"

"Girls, I am already moving with as much haste as I can muster. This is my maximum speed—"

Just then, Samus interrupted him. "I am so STUPID! My Speed Booster!"

"Oh yeah!" I agreed. Why didn't I think of that?

"Speed Booster?" asked Dusknoir in confusion.

"Yes. Sir Dusknoir—may I call you that?" He nodded. She continued, "—I happen to possess a miniature engine in my Power Suit that can multiply the velocity of my top speed by a factor of 10.32, provided I have a 20 meter running start. Perhaps I should demonstrate it for you?"

We all stared at her in awe. "Whooooaaa…I didn't know you could talk like him, Samus!" whispered Chikorita in awe. I suspected that she just wanted to prove that she was on his level, too.

"Why, certainly, ma'am," he agreed.

She ran up to 20 meters behind us and called out, "You six better hold onto something." Then she charged right at us, and right when she reached us, her Speed Booster kicked into action. She ran right into us and pushed us as one giant ball of mass, with Dusknoir in the center. He was flabbergasted.

"In—inconceivable! Monitor your speed, ma'am! We're on a collision course—!"

"TELL ME WHETHER TO GO LEFT OR RIGHT!" she ordered.

"Right! I mean, left! Left! Right! Straight! Right! Straight that way, into the warp device—!"

It probably would've been lots of fun if I wasn't scared half to death, hanging on for my life, though I quickly got used to it thanks to that practice with riding Air Ride Machines that one time I was in Big Amy's body. Samus pushed Dusknoir along, and we all hung onto him, mostly on the front where we could expend the least effort. The Greek-like scenery sped by so fast; even the wild Pokémon couldn't catch up to us.

Even in the midst of all of that insanity, I was still able to check my watch from under my spacesuit from time to time. I lost count of how many floors we were beamed up, but two hours had passed by the time I could tell we were getting close to the end. By that time, Samus was finally starting to tire out.

"So…this tower really is…99…floors…?" she gasped.

"Do not let up hope now! See that exit?" Dusknoir pointed to a warp point that was twice the diameter of all the normal warp points we went through. "That probably means that this is the 99th floor!" He then threw a few Oran Berries and Max Elixirs at us. I wasn't sure if we needed them, but I politely accepted them and ate and drank. I was thirsty! Turned out, they actually tasted really good, and my energy level shot back to the max!

The 99th floor. Wow. So there were 100 floors in total? Who cares? We ran for it and landed in it at the same time. Even Samus found the energy to make that final leap.

We were beamed to an impressive-looking altar on top of the tower. Four massive arches converged to a single point 50 feet above us. The wind howled, and it was even colder than usual. We walked to the center, wondering where the heck Arceus was, or for that matter, Queen X. "Are we…are we too wate?" worried Kirby.

Just then, we heard a hollow voice boom out. A very familiar voice to me. "SHEENA…?"

We looked all around, but I grew excited, while everyone else was just confused. "Sheena? Where?" I asked. Was Sheena from the movie Arceus and the Jewel of Life here? I was used to all of these crazy crossovers now, but this one didn't make any sense. She lived in Michina Town, for goodness sakes.

"Who is this…Sheena?" inquired Dusknoir.

Right when I was about to explain, a bright light materialized in front of us. We shielded our eyes. It was Arceus! Dusknoir and Grovyle saluted him in reverence, and Big Amy, Chikorita, and I followed suit. He floated down and whispered again, "SHEENA…? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" Looking at me.

"I'm Sheena?" I asked, dumbfounded. Then I came to my senses and corrected him. "No no, wait! I'm not Sheena! My name is Amy. Amy [you know who]."

He then took a closer look and apologized, "OH. MY BAD. YOUR AURA HAPPENS TO FEEL EXCEEDINGLY SIMILAR TO HERS…" Just then, I thought back to the movie and remembered that Arceus made the same mistake with Sheena herself when he mistook her to be Damos for a second. Okay, now this made more sense. Without warning, though, he grew angry, and boomed at me, "WAIT A SECOND! YOU'RE A HUMAN! HOW DID YOU GET HERE?"

"It's them, Arceus! Help!"

We gasped. "No way…" whispered Chikorita.

She was already there. Queen X fell down from the arches and landed right next to Arceus. We reacted immediately. My wings shot out, and I aimed a ball of energy right at her. But just at the last second, surprising all of us, Arceus set up a shield and blocked our attacks!

"Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU, Arceus!" exclaimed Queen X bowing up and down. To my dismay, I realized that she looked exactly like me this time. Same age, same height, same outside personality…she even wore the exact same spacesuit as me! "I told you Queen X would be coming with her nasty army soon. She wants to kill me! I would never have gotten away from that torture chamber of yours had it not have been for your help."

"HEY, ANYTHING TO PREVENT THE SPACE-TIME CONTINUUM FROM COLLAPSING. TRICKY PARASITE, THOUGH. SHE REMINDED ME OF SHEENA."

We couldn't believe our ears. **"WHAT?"** we exploded.

"She's lying, Arceus! She's the real Queen X! She wants to kill you!" I argued.

"LIARS," he huffed. "SHALL I DISPOSE OF THEM?" he asked Queen X.

"No wait, stop! The X Parasites will try to infect you once you defeat them! Just stall for time so I can get back home!" she pleaded with my trademark panicking skills. What hurt me the most was how perfectly she could emulate my personality. If I were in her position, I'd react exactly the way she would.

"HOME?" he asked.

"Yeah, let me explain! Queen X over there said that only you had the power to break through the shields she placed around this dimension! She trapped me in here so she could kill me! And when you saved me back there, she went out to kill you so I can't escape! Now come on! Open up that portal so I can get out of this place and go home! I don't wanna die here…I just wanna go home!" With that, she started crying.

Big Amy gasped, "Wait, wait! Arceus, you can send Little Amy back home so Queen X can't kill her? She can live?"

My heart soared. "I don't have to die?"

He started to open up a wormhole that would surely lead back to my home dimension, but he kept the shield up that prevented me from moving any closer. I pounded on it over and over again, "Let me go! Let me GO!"

Dusknoir added in, "Lord Arceus, don't you recognize me? I am the world-famous Dusknoir! You personally resurrected Grovyle and me and everyone else who otherwise would've vanished when Team Pecha here altered the course of history!"

He paused. "DUSKNOIR…?"

"Yes! Hear me when I assert that I am 100% positive that this human here is undeniably the real Master of the Universe, and that human there is that female parasoid, Queen X!"

Arceus stared for what felt like a long time. He muttered to himself, "I CAN FEEL IT. IF THAT IS THE REAL DUSKNOIR…AND WHAT HE SAYS IS TRUE…WAIT! THERE ARE TWO AURAS?" He took a closer look at Big Amy and me, and at the same time, the barrier started to falter a bit. "IMPOSSIBLE. HOW CAN YOU AND AMY OF TEAM PECHA HAVE THE SAME—? AAAAGH!"

Queen X struck him.

"Noooooo!" we all shouted. The wormhole closed before the barrier disappeared. We all leapt into action, but each of her wings snaked around us, binding us tight and sending waves of powerful energy through us.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" gasped Arceus, with one of Queen X's wings strangling around his neck. "DON'T YOU WANT TO GO HOME…?"

Queen X smiled nastily as she morphed into her preferred 22-year-old form. Her wings changed accordingly, now sending pulses of dark energy through us. She whispered nastily, "You chose wrong, Arceus. **I **am Queen X! And there is no way I shall ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER allow you to let the Master of this Universe escape and plot my doom. She's mine now! MINE! You hear me?" To prove her point, she then sent waves of X Parasites into him, sealing his fate. She let out an evil laugh as he fainted. "Long live the X Parasite Empire!"

"You murderer…you **murderer**!" I screeched. I finally built up enough energy to shove my way out of her viper-like grip and blast her with an explosion of Ylla energy. Though it looked like she took some damage, it didn't slow her down at all. She unleashed a swarm of X Parasites that morphed into various other Pokémon.

"The Pokémon from the Forgotten Plains!" gasped Dusknoir. "So **you **were the mysterious monster!"

While my friends were busy fighting off those Pokémon-X's, I leapt straight for Queen X and continued to fight her. "How could you? How COULD YOU?" I continued shouting. I was desperate. It was just as I feared. Queen X infected Arceus like it was nothing, just like the parasitic monster she was. Furthermore, I promised Dialga and Palkia that I wouldn't let anything happen to Arceus. How could I face them now, knowing that I failed so miserably?

"Don't get so worked up over the death of a fictional character, you Metroid crybaby," she sneered.

I screeched, "He's not fictitious! He's real! He's** real!** And you killed him!" I was beyond being reasoned with at that point.

She dismissed me with a flick of her wrist and smirked, "So? He's not real in your home dimension. Besides, it could always get worse. Much, much worse."

"No it can't!" I retorted.

"Oh, yes it can."

She surveyed the battle below and found that all of her Pokémon-X friends had already been dispatched and absorbed. Before I could ask what she meant, she swerved right around me and shot straight for… "Dusknoir! Look out!" I shouted.

Luckily, he turned around in time and stopped her with a powerful Shadow Ball. Grovyle swung into action and used Leaf Blade on her as well. Even Big Amy and Chikorita pitched in. But it was clear that Dusknoir wanted to finish her off himself. "Don't do it, Dusknoir!" I panicked. "If you beat her, she'll infect you!"

He didn't seem to listen to me. "I shall prove that I am worthy of fighting alongside you…you, the Heroes of Time!"

"We're the Heroes of Space now, you idiot!" I probably shouldn't have complained over a trivial little mistake like that, but I was desperate to get him to stop. He didn't. With one more black hole beam from his stomach, he…actually beat her!

Unfortunately, she wasn't the massive mess of Core-X's fused together, like I expected her to be. She was actually a slightly larger-than-normal X Parasite, but not big enough to warrant the need of an outer shell like a Core-X. We could only watch in slow motion as she enveloped his body and entered, seemingly strangling him in the process.

"NOOOOO!" I shouted. Not again. Not him!

"Dusknoir! Dusknoir!" Big Amy and Chikorita screamed over and over again.

He struggled to hold onto life and barely choked out, "Amy…Chikorita…I must apologize…I hurt you two…all this time. Can you…ever forgive me? Did I…do the right thing?"

"We forgive you! We forgive you!" gasped Big Amy.

Chikorita added, "I always knew you became a good guy! I just…didn't want to believe it. I'm so sorry! If only…I could've done something…"

"Relax, child…I am glad…I could finally put you…at peace. Master of this Universe? I am glad…I finally got to know you. Promise me you shall always fight for the life you've always wanted."

I nodded, even though I couldn't stop the tears. "I promise, Dusknoir. I'm glad I got to know you too…"

"Good luck, Heroes of Space...and goodbye." With that, he lost consciousness. Probably forever.

Big Amy and Chikorita ran up to me, and I hugged them close just like last time. I didn't know if we'd ever stop crying that time. It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair. I didn't care what Queen X said before. **Nothing **was fair in love and war. Here Amy and Chikorita finally forgave Dusknoir for his crimes…and now he just had to die. And after I swore I wouldn't let anyone die like this in my universe ever again, too! But for me, the horrible things he did to Amy and Grovyle in the past just could not compare to the treachery that Queen X unleashed on all of us. I knew how he honestly had a change of heart and tried to do the right thing. Just by calling us the Heroes of Space…he truly had redeemed himself.

* * *

Just then, I heard Queen X's nasty voice whisper in the air. "I told you. I can always make it worse. You vowed to never kill off another character in your universe ever again? You make me laugh. Once you start, it's fiendishly addictive. I should know. In that nearby universe, I've personally slaughtered over 900,000 life forms in the past 4 weeks, and that was without the help of my loyal subjects! It really is quite an art form. You like art, don't you? Why don't you try it?"

My friends all looked around. Seemed like they could hear her too. I screeched out to the air, "**'**Art form**'** my butt! Where the heck ARE you, Queen X?"

"My, my. Such vengeance. You could become a natural at this. Nevertheless, this was all a diversion."

Samus gasped, "Of course! You can copy yourself over and over again. We only killed one of your subjects, didn't we? There are probably 100 of you running around the galaxy…if not 1,000!"

"Very good, Samus Aran. But I'm sure you already knew that, Amy [you know who]! I'm sure you also knew that Sky Temple was also the name of Dark Aether's version of the Great Temple, where the Emperor Ing lives. You DID know that, right?"

I lost my breath. I didn't know that! Guess it went to show how much I played Metroid Prime 2: Echoes...absolutely none, even though I really wanted to.

"You **didn't** know that? You're supposed to be the expert on foreshadowing! Where is your storytelling instincts, girl?" She cackled up a storm before continuing on. If only I could punch her...! "Anyway, I'm waiting for you here, talking on a brain-wave device that only you and your disgusting Metroid friends can hear, in the city you love most, preparing my final attack on all of galactic civilization…in the Galactic Federation. Soooooo many leaders of soooo many life forms! Can you taste it? You'd better hurry, Metroid child…to Captial Planet Earth!" With a deep, maniacal cackle that sent shivers of anger up my spine, her voice faded away.

We were speechless. "Why didn't I figure it out sooner?" I groaned.

"Uh, yeah, Captial Planet was actually short for Capital Planet Earth. A lot of species don't like to use the full name, especially if it implies that one species is superior to another," explained Samus.

"No, not that! I mean, her plan makes perfect sense. You were right, Samus. If the X Parasites ever escaped, galactic civilization would end. And where better to start than at the place where representatives from every planet meet?"

"You're right…" she agreed, her face paleing.

"We'd better hurry," replied Grovyle.

Looked like that was where the final battle would take place. On Capital Planet Earth.

To be continued…

**Coming up next: We hurry on over to Capital Planet Earth to stop Queen X's dastardly plan. But she was right about one thing. She always manages to make things worse. How much worse? Well, for starters…she turns the city of my dreams, Gaijin City, into…**The City of My Nightmares**.**


	27. The City of My Nightmares

Chapter 29: The City of My Nightmares

It was a heart-stopping leap of faith, and would've been complete suicide if normal people were to try it, but we weren't ordinary beings. We were all part-Metroid, the Ultimate Warriors. And we had already proven ourselves worthy of the title. So of course we did it.

I spread out my pink, glowing Ylla wings and dive-bombed straight for the ground below, like a peregrine falcon. I carried Samus by the shoulders, who in turn supported Grovyle, Chikorita, Big Amy, and Kirby. The six of us formed a living ladder plunging straight through the chill of the clouds, going down, down, down, down, down. We would plunge past all 100 floors of the Sky Temple, each about 30 feet tall, and then plunge one more mile before hopefully landing on soft ground, where Adam and my friends' Air Ride Machines were. It kicked up an odd sensation in my stomach, like a mess of butterflies, and I remembered how I could never ever feel comfortable with diving off anywhere into a swimming pool. That's why I never joined any swim teams; I found out that such diving was a prerequisite.

I sighed as I then recalled Kel-Zich training me in how to fly like this. He really trained me well, and it was kind of sad that I'd never actually be able to test out how well I'd do in a pool now that I felt so comfortable sailing though the air like this. But first thing's first. We couldn't let Queen X carry out her dastardly plan that would surely lead to galactic genocide.

For about a minute or so, we were free falling in terminal velocity, and in the next few seconds, the ground rushed up way faster than I thought it would. I just barely pulled up in time, slowing our descent to the ground to a safe level. Good. My friends' vehicles were exactly where they were supposed to be, still hidden in the bushes of the forest outside of Quartzite Cave. It was too bad I'd never get a chance to explore it, but we didn't have time anymore. Sky Temple was my first mystery dungeon ever, and would probably be my last and only. It just had to have 100 floors. Fitting.

Samus somersaulted right into her ship, and my friends leapt onto their Air Ride Machines. I led the way, curving sharply back up into the sky, with them all behind me. I heard Samus explain to Adam everything that happened.

"Dang…That Queen X really is a sadist. You think this was part of her plan all along?" he asked.

"I know so. This is what we feared, remember? The Chozo feared it, too."

Adam thought for a bit before replying. "Those little gelatinous blobs can cause all of this galaxy-wide suffering? Man. They make those Metroids seem like harmless toothpicks! Ah, the memories…" he sighed.

I commented, "That's what's I've been thinking too…" but not for the reasons he thought I was. If it was actually true that I—or at least someone—had to be sacrificed in order to bring the Metroids back, I really hope it'd be worth it. I hoped the Galactic Federation didn't throw away any plans they might've developed for using Metroids for the power of good. But then another thought came to my mind.

"Hey, Samus? The six of us together can absorb the true Queen X, assuming we can all defeat her, right?" I asked.

"Certainly. Unless…" she trailed off.

"Unless what?"

"Nothing. Forget I said anything. Anyway, I'm setting the course for Capital Planet now. Hang on, everyone."

As I gripped onto the front again, I couldn't help but wonder why she hesitated in her answer. I mean, if we could somehow absorb Queen X, who controlled all of the X Parasites, we might not need to bring back the Metroids after all, therefore sparing my—or anyone else's—life. But I racked my brains for any reason as to what possible complications there might've been. Couldn't think of any. I decided to let the matter go…but my storytelling instincts wouldn't stop nagging about it in the back of my mind.

We held on for about an hour, worrying sick to our stomachs that there could be hundreds of Queen X's at all different places in the galaxy at once, smiting everyone at this very moment. To pass the time, Big Amy and Chikorita told us hilarious stories about their lives on Planet Portania in the past, and I reciprocated with similar events from my life. Even Kirby explained everything, from the day the original pink Kirby made seven different-colored copies of himself so that he could better protect peace in the galaxy and live with Tiff and Tuff on Planet Popstar at the same time…to the day he arrived at Planet Chozodia and passed the test to become a Star Warrior. We figured it was the last time we'd ever get to know each other, so we enjoyed it while we could, in the event that…one of us ended up biting the dust.

Finally, we materialized out of hyperspace and saw the entirety of Capital Planet Earth below us. "Woooow…Anotha big pwanet! Yaaaay!" exclaimed Kirby.

"Here we go again," whispered Grovyle. We charged ahead to Gaijin City where it was, on North America, United States, and finally, Virginia. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to find that it was so close to Washington D.C.

"I wonder why your planet has so many continents, Little Amy," commented Chikorita.

I explained to her, "Earth used to have one giant continent called Pangaea, just like your planet. Except that it was like 600 million years ago. Pangaea sort of broke apart over the years. Even now, the continents are moving at a rate of 1 inch per 10 years. I think." I probably got the exact numbers wrong. I would really have to look it up to get it right.

"Queen X said she'd be in the Galactic Federation, right?" asked Big Amy. "Where is it, Samus?"

"This way," she replied. "Follow me."

As we did, I took at good look at surrounding forests, the place where the Wuudites lived, and finally, the city with its tall buildings that seemed to form a maze in the air. Nothing seemed to have changed since the last time we were here. Still the same shiny tall buildings, flying cars/buses, sections for various species, and even the same tree for our Secret Base our first and only night here was still there. But something in the air seemed to have…changed. I couldn't put my finger on it, though.

We arrived at the biggest building in the center of the city, on the very top floor, and managed to get clearance to land. As soon as Samus landed and exited the ship, I flew us all up to the very top of the building she pointed us to. There was a window on the roof that we were able to look down into.

I gasped. The blue-tinted chamber looked exactly like the Galactic Federation that was from Lilo and Stitch. Alien diplomats of all shapes and sizes sat on seats that filled both the left and right walls, leaving a gaping pit in the center in which hover pods would float over. And right below us against the front wall was the walkway for the High Council. In the center stood the Grand Councilwoman, a tall, blue, authoritative-looking alien that somehow reminded me of Kel-Zich, only she didn't float or have super-bright wings or anything like that. Everyone in there looked like they were in the middle of heated debate about some issue or another. I wasn't interested. Politics was never one of my strong suits, especially interplanetary politics, and navigating them would be an absolute nightmare.

What we were more interested in was where Queen X was hiding. We looked all around, but could never seem to find her. Grovyle then told us, "Hang on. Let me try something." He then closed his eyes and concentrated as hard as he could.

"Grovyle? What are you doing?" asked Chikorita.

"Shh! I'm trying to detect the presence of X Parasites. Los-Nom and Voices in the Stars told me that by concentrating like this, I can detect auras, and whether it's a fake aura or not. Now pipe down for a few seconds already!"

So we waited for a few tense seconds. Finally, he opened his eyes and concluded, "…No. She's not in there. No X Parasites in there, anyway. Wait…hang on…" He closed his eyes again, and a second later, opened them, standing up in shock. **"She's behind us!"**

We turned around, alarmed. We didn't see anyone. Suddenly, a Bob-omb flew up in front of our faces, up above us, and down behind us…into the glass ceiling. Uh-oh…

KA-BLOOIE! I protected my friends with an energy shield just in time. When the dust started to clear, we looked behind ourselves, and saw an athletic 22-year-old—THAT WAS QUEEN X! She smiled nastily, and I instantly realized what her horrible, horrible plan was. **She just made us look like a bunch of terrorists!** I ferociously launched an energy ball at her. She dodged it by somersaulting over our heads and landing right into the chamber, folding in her wings in the process. She pointed at us and shouted, "There they are! Get 'em!"

The Grand Councilwoman smacked a hidden red button on her official stand. Suddenly, the whole city changed. Red lights lit up in almost every window of every building. Alarms blared throughout the city. And every single hologram advertisement changed to show "WANTED" posters featuring Grovyle, Chikorita, Big Amy, Samus…and me. Not only that, but the list of everything we were wanted for was long. Really long. Thanks to my annoying near-sightedness I couldn't read it from afar, but right then one of the posters popped conveniently in front of me.

Wanted for: Theft, Assault, Breaking and entering, Entering and breaking, Larceny, Smuggling, Illegal use of funds…

"What? What does it say?" asked Grovyle urgently.

"Wanted?" I shouted in dismay. "Queen X? What…did…you…do?"

She flew far away from us into the air and sneered from afar, "Oh, you know. While you and your little Metroid friends were running around Planet Portania, my subjects and I were preeeeetty busy here. Did you really think I'd fight a final battle here, against your Metroid DNA? I don't think so. I'm here to make you suffer! I'm here to punish you as much as I want!"

"I can't go to prison! What are you, insane?" I shrieked.

"You put her on a Wanted Poster?" bellowed Grovyle, completely outraged. "NO! You will NOT drag them down with me!" he growled and spat a round of Bullet Seeds at Queen X. I was momentarily confused, until I remembered that he was considered a criminal in the past. Since he was a Grass type instead of a Ghost or Poison or Dark-type, those Wanted Posters of him didn't fool my brother at all (especially since he was one of my brother's favorite Pokémon in the first place), but…they ended up fooling lots of people…including Amy and Chikorita…and me.

She dodged them all and sneered, "HEL-lo? Since when did you get so overprotective of Miss Omniscient here, Grovyle? I thought you hated her guts."

"That's only because you MADE me hate her guts, you scumbag!"

"Oh. Right. How silly of me. **Then you all were supposed to die! Who are you kidding?**" She looked into the distance and calmed down instantly, remarking, "Too bad for you, goody-little-two-shoes Metroid children. Have a nice life! Muahahahahaha!" she cackled as she flew away into the sunset.

We could see all of the Welcome Robots in the distance switch on to Battle Mode, flying straight towards us. "Run for it!" I ordered, pushing my friends off the roof down to their vehicles below.

My mind was in full panic mode. I've stayed well within the law all of my life. Never stolen, never carried weapons/drugs/alcohol/whatever, never hurt anyone. And now Queen X was framing us for loads of nasty crimes that she committed that we never did! The fiend! She really knew how to pick at my greatest weaknesses and worst fears. Identity Theft? She took it to a whole new level. My storytelling instincts should've warned me about this all along. She really did make things worse! And the worst part would be that there would be no way to prove our innocence. No way at all. We wanted to save galactic civilization…but how could we if galactic civilization was after us? The city of my dreams just became the city of my nightmares.

They all hopped on their Air Ride Machines (Samus piloted her ship, of course) and followed me as I ordered, "Let's get out of here!" We flew up, up, and away from the swarm of not-so-friendly Welcome Robots shooting lasers (!) at us, performing barrel rolls (if this ever gets turned into a video game, fanfiction, or whatever, this better be good, Mr. Tae Kwon Do camp counselor whose-name-I-can't-quite-remember-right-now!) and doing whatever else we could to dodge them.

WHAM!

We ran right smack into something in the air that emitted red sparks, but we tried again. WHAM! My head hurt. I then realized what it was. "A shield?" I exclaimed.

We then turned in the other direction, dodging the army of Welcome Robots repeating "Halt!" over and over again. Samus explained to us, "They've set up an energy field around the city to stop our escape! We have to find where they're emitting it from and disable it!"

"So where is it?" shouted Chikorita.

"Right on the bottom floor of the building next to the Galactic Federation! Be careful—they know people will try that strategy, and there's lots of police in there!"

I asked, "Can't my Ylla energy blasts break through it?" I launched an energy beam to answer my own question. The invisible dome shield simply absorbed the blast, and if I wasn't mistaken, it actually ate—well, absorbed—my attack.

"Apparently not. It's designed to absorb energy attacks to strengthen itself, and no physical attack can break through it."

Right then, I barely dodged a Flamethrower in time, and saw that it came from a Charizard with a 17-year-old boy riding on his back. Wait a second…that was that Alex guy! He shouted, "Amy! How could you? How COULD YOU?"

I replied, "No, wait, you don't understand! I'm being framed here!"

"Yeah, right!" huffed Charizard. He blew another Flamethrower at us, and we had to dodge it.

"Alex! Charizard! I swear I haven't been here the past four weeks!"

"Yeah! We're innocent!" added Big Amy.

They didn't listen. Charizard shot another Flamethrower at us that almost fried us. Yeesh. If any fire attack hit us, we'd be done for. It saddened me even more that my former opponents from the Pokéathlon Contest were after me now. I was sure I gained their respect by now…but I guess that was part of the full pain that Queen X wanted me to feel.

So we had no choice but to follow Samus down through the maze of buildings and walkways, dodging laser blasts and running from the Welcome Robots behind us, as well as the ones that kept materializing in front of us. We also had to dodge more Security Robots like the ones from the movie Wall-E, and as if that weren't enough, we had to deal with Cassie and Peter's Pokémon friends shooting Water, Ice, and Electric-type attacks at us from random buildings. I would've thought about riding the railways for Air Ride Machines, but I quickly saw that all of those ways were under lockdown. We flew down, down, down, threading our way through the very bottom of the city where it was really dark...and a bit dirty, too. And the whole time, I swore I could hear a war tune coming from those security robots like the one that the mob sang in Beauty and the Beast when they were marching to kill the Beast. Nah, I must've been hallucinating or something. But it really would've been an appropriate tune if this were a musical...seeing how FREAKED OUT I was!

Finally, we found the place she mentioned. It was a tiny garage entranceway that Samus' ship barely fit in. We followed in after her, barely dodging the Welcome Robots and Security Robots rushing in. Suddenly, her ship crashed into an invisible obstacle, and we followed suit. "OW! Owwww..." we groaned. Now my head really was aching. It felt like another invisible shield.

"What the heck WAS that?" gasped Chikorita.

Grovyle hammerfisted the ground in frustration. "Blast it! We fell in their trap!"

"What do we do now?" whispered Big Amy in desperation.

"Follow my lead," I replied, hoping that was a good idea.

"Freeze!" shouted the Security Robots. "Put your hands up. And you—come out of the spaceship. Now."

Samus didn't have any choice. She leapt out, landed next to us, and whispered to me, "I'm sorry! I didn't know that they made a second shield right here!"

The lead Security Robot barked, "You have a right to remain silent. Anything you say could and would be used against you in court."

I responded, "I plead the Fifth," and my friends did the same. Hopefully, the Fifth Amendment still had some bearing in the early 26th century.

"Very well. Right to remain silent—granted." It then pulled out a new gun barrel of some sort, making us tense up. But it didn't shoot out a bullet. It shot out an odd type of gas that reached our faces in less than .2 seconds. It stopped up my throat. Though it wasn't nearly as painful as that Dark World gas that Queen X used on us, it still made us collapse and faint.

No…Not again…Why does every chapter have to end like this?

To be continued…

**Coming up next: We're in prison! **P-R-I-S-O-N**! NOOOOO! I don't belong here! I don't! Wait…what's Jumba Jookiba doing here? Does he know something really important about the X Parasites, such as…how to beat the real Queen X? And though we're guaranteed a right to a fair trial…why do I get the feeling we don't have any hope of winning at all?**


	28. PRISON

Chapter 30: P-R-I-S-O-N

"Uuugh…"

I remember this feeling…

Sore head. Nauseated sinuses. Aches and pains all over my side from the steel floor. Wait. Steel floor? How did I fall asleep on my side on such a hard surface? I pushed myself up as fast as I could, sharply inhaling through my nose in shock. I was wearing my normal sailor outfit. Someone must have deactivated my spacesuit. I looked at my surroundings and gasped.

I was in an enclosed steel room with the only light coming from the window-wall to my left. To my right was a bed barely big enough to fit me, and I wasn't sure if I fell off or not. Posted on the wall above the bed were pictures of various aliens in various action poses, although I got a sinking feeling that somehow, they were the alien equivalent of girly pictures. Scattered around the room were shreds of paper that I quickly realized were newspaper shreds. I could see that if I put the scraps together, I'd get the headline, "IDIOT SCIENTIST JAILED". I found it odd how it was written in English. The evidence was overwhelming. There was no question where I was.

"Oh no…no, no, no…" I stood up, ran to the window, and looked outside. It was just as I thought…as I feared.

There were at least 100 stories of similar prison cellblocks in the space across from me. Some were empty, but most held various alien criminals of all shapes and sizes. Some paced back and forth; some pounded on the window walls, and still others did nothing at all. And between columns of prison cells were shafts for lifts where people could get on and ride.

I was in an alien prison exactly like the one from Lilo and Stitch!

Suddenly I heard a knocking sound to my left. I heard a voice I recognized. "Amy?"

"Grovyle?" I ran to the wall, sat down, and knocked back. "Is that you?"

"Yeah. Hey, listen. Try putting your ear against the wall."

"I know. Sound travels a lot better through solids. What I'm not sure is why whoever made this prison didn't put insulation or anything in…"

"It's a gap, I think. I can't hear Chikorita or the others or anyone else anywhere." He paused. "Wait. You know this place?"

"Yeah! It was in a movie I once saw. This is the official prison of the Galactic Federation. But it's not fair! We didn't do anything! This is all Queen X's fault—**she **should be in here, not us!"

"Calm down, Amy. I'm sure we'll figure something out. This Earth system is interesting, though. So if they place you on a Wanted Poster and catch you, they just lock you up in here? Doesn't seem too bad compared to what I've been through." He was probably shrugging in resignation, judging by the playful tone of his voice.

"It still must seem like a stupid system to you," I commented.

"You mean, stupid **systems,**" he corrected me, referring to where we were now.

I realized, "Hey yeah, you're right! Even in the future, nothing works!" With that, we both fell to the floor in laughter. That line from Spaceballs really had a deeper meaning than you'd suspect.

Finally, we recovered. He then asked me, "So are they going to keep us locked up like this for the rest of our lives?"

"I don't think so. The 6th Amendment says that we have a right to a speedy and public trial. They're probably just going to hold us here until it's our turn."

"Trial? What's a trial?"

"It's where they look at the evidence from the crimes, listen to people who've been there, and find out whether you're innocent or guilty. Only…" I trailed off.

"But we're innocent. We should be fine, right? This is just a minor distraction that Queen X wanted to throw at us to slow us down, right?"

"I really, really, really hope so, Grovyle," I sighed again. "But she knows that this whole thing is one of my worst fears ever. She's also paranoid about our Metroid DNA. We're the only ones who can possibly stand up to and stop her plans. So I'm guessing she wants to kill us before we kill her. Furthermore, since she copied our DNA…she'll be sure to leave some at the scenes of all of those crimes. It'll make us automatically guilty, and the only thing that can possibly prove our innocence will be if they have a brain scanner or something…although knowing Queen X, she's smashed them all already…"

None of us could say anything more after that. Grovyle sat up, and I couldn't hear him anymore as he walked away to another wall of his cell, maybe to hear if any of the others were around. I got up, walked to the bed, and sat down, piecing together the pieces of the rest of that newspaper. After that, I pulled the bed sheets up, turned away from the light coming from the glass wall, and tried to fall asleep again to pass the time.

* * *

_In the cell to the right, Amy Vee Purima the Jigglypuff finally wakes up too._

Amy: Uugh…Ooow…

_She walks around a bit, examining the cell, before finally looking out the window to see everything outside._

Amy (completely shocked): What the heck IS this place?

Chikorita (from the wall on the right): Amy? Is that you?

Amy: Chikorita?

_The two of them are in different cells, so they place their ears against the walls through a space where sound can travel through._

Chikorita: *whew*! For a moment there, I was worried you were somewhere else!

Amy: Where are we, Chikorita?

Chikorita: I don't know…but this feels familiar somehow…like in…

Amy: The s—s—stockade?

Chikorita: Exactly like the stockade! Wait. Then that means…we're in jail!

Amy and Chikorita: NOT AGAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIN!

_Their shouts can be heard through some of the walls, but mostly restricted to the cells up above. Apparently, Kirby is above Amy's cell, and Samus is above Chikorita's. They're both in bed, too tired to think about their predicament for now._

Kirby: (Me hungwy…Wait. Wuz that Amy…? Nah…) Zzzz…

Samus: (Shut up, girls…I'm not even supposed to be in here. Thanks to those law-enforcement robots that took away my Power Suit, I can't even…) *yawn*… (This is so boring…Goodnight…)

* * *

Right then, a circular hole opened up in the ceiling right above me. Through it came a circular TV thingy. Typical. I remembered that Dr. Jacques Von Hamsterviel liked to use it when he was in prison.

Only it wasn't Hamsterviel who appeared on the monitor. It was Queen X. I nearly freaked out.

"Pooooor Amy. Sad, sad, Amy. Trusting, naïve Amy," she purred condescendingly. She kicked back on some sort of black leather couch, leafing through an issue of Cosmopolitan magazine like it was the most fascinating thing in the world.

I stuffed my pillow in my face, turning away from her. "All right, I get it, I get it! What do you want, Queen X?" I shot, extremely annoyed.

"Mmmm…nothing," she replied in a roundabout way. "Except to maybe let you know that I'm putting you through this whole ordeal so that I can finally pound the fact in your thick little skull that I am superior to you in every way! Other than that, nothing at all. Yeah…" She was sarcastic.

"So?" I snapped back.

Her voice grew dark. "You just don't get it, do you, you little goody-two-shoes-Metroid child—? No wait; my bad…You just don't get it, do you, you **inferior being?** I call the shots now! This is my universe, not yours! If you really wanted to be a good little girl, you would've just died when I wanted you to!"

"Sorry. 'Go kill yourself'? Not likely. Even if my mom and dad told me to. You really didn't think I'd let someone like you kill everyone and everything I've ever worked for, did you?" I shot back, trying to match her sarcastic tone.

"It seems that I still have to teach you your place," she curtly replied. I peeked over my pillow and stole a glance. A smile crept on her face. "Have you noticed how everything in your universe comes from video games you've played, movies you've watched, and anything else that's already copyrighted in your home dimension?"

"Yeah…only all the time! What's your point?"

"No one ever said anything about…characters and stories YOU came up with. Well? Do the words 'Galactic Rainbow' ring a bell?"

My face paled. I sat up, letting the pillow drop to the floor. "You…you don't mean…!"

"Yes…Poor Amy. Poor, poor Amy," she started to purr condescendingly again. "A 10-book sci-fi space opera adventure manga series, every page in glorious color! Each book, averaging about 400 pages! That means that you will work on upwards of 4,000 pages, the pencil drawings, the Adobe Illustrator lines, the Photoshop colors, those beautiful breathtaking backgrounds, the lettering, the book design, the publishing…all by your loathsome little self. How many hours per page? 10? 20? That means you shall spend 80,000 hours of your life on the series, about as long as any normal 21st century human in their own normal job! And if you're going to just do it as a hobby? You're still in the process of rewriting the entire story. Poor you. Poor, poor you."

I couldn't respond that time. She was right. I never calculated it that way before.

She sneered again and stepped back for dramatic effect. "You wish you would have assistants, but that will never happen. That's because there's no one on 21st century Planet Earth who even comes close to sharing your vision, much less your so-called mad artistic skills. You're fated to complete it all on your own, missing out on the best adult years of your life."

"S—so what?" I shot back, although a bit more hesitantly. What if she was right? And where exactly was she going with this?

I soon found out. She activated and spread her dark wings out. Immediately, from the tips of her wings came sixteen X Parasites, two from each wing. They quickly formed into exact copies of me. Myself as I was now, 18 years old, same sailor suit outfit. The camera zoomed even farther back, and I saw that Queen X was standing in front of a classroom of some sort. There were rows and rows of desks with computer monitors and graphics tablets at each and every seat. The sixteen clones then sat at various seats and started working. Queen X then created sixteen more X Parasite clones of me before responding.

"But me? Hah! I can create an infinite amount of perfect assistants to help me personally! I can easily create over 4,000 copies of you in a single day, one for each page of your manga! Within 20 hours, my clone army can accomplish what will take 80,000 hours for you!"

I fell off the bed and staggered against the wall. "No way…no way…!"

"Oh, don't worry. We'll keep your original story intact. Everything will happen the way it's supposed to happen…with just a few edits that will improve the story to the greatness status you've always wanted."

"Like what?" I inquired with trepidation.

"You know your beloved little Amy Lightbloom and Pluffy? After the final battle, in the very, very end…**they shall both die, and my Space Pirates shall take over the galaxy**, just the way I've always wanted them to! Muahahahahahaha!"

I lost control. My own wings shot out in anger, and I leapt at the video screen, seizing it. "NO! I've been working on them for FIVE YEARS! You can't kill them!"

"Just watch me. In only 20 hours, they will finish and publish all 10 books at once! I shall copyright and trademark them all! And there's nothing you can do to stop me. Heck, even if you could, you've still got…oh, I dunno…**a billion** of my loyal followers to deal with! Face the facts. You could never rid the galaxy of us now." She sneered as she sped up her cloning speed to 32 clones per second. "That should teach you your place. I'm the alpha girl here!"

"STOOOOOP!" I shouted while shooting the most powerful energy blast at the TV, hoping it would go through.

It didn't, unfortunately. All it did was dent it a little. Then an alarm sounded from the TV itself, and out from the top of the screen popped a laser gun of some sort. It shot a blast of red energy at me, knocking me down.

Queen X laughed heartlessly at the other end. "And that's another 24 hours of jail time for you. By the time your trial even starts, I'll be selling your books like wildfire and become famous. Sweet dreams." She sped up her cloning speed even more to 64 clones per second before shutting off, cackling fiendishly.

The TV retreated into the ceiling, which then closed up. I couldn't believe it. I just couldn't believe it. Two Amy's (including me) were hard enough to deal with. Three of them (by that I mean Big Amy from the dark future) was starting to get out of hand. Four (actually Queen X copying me) was just absolutely insane.

And now there were going to be thousands—no, billions—of them!

I shouted the most heartbreaking shout I even could, smashing the walls of the cell left and right with my Ylla powers, but it was no use. The walls were made of a special metal that resisted Ylla energy. I must've kept by my rampage for hours before finally calming down, explaining my predicament to Grovyle on the left (and Big Amy, whom I found was in the cell to my right), and falling asleep on the bed, crying into the pillow in anguish and despair.

* * *

I heard the window slide up, someone step in, and the window close behind him. Whoever he was, his huge, round body blocked most of the light coming in. I sat up and rubbed my eyes, trying to get a good look.

"Heh. So **this** is all whom **Galactic Federation police** raised **Code Red** alert for? A single human girl?" he commented in a heartfelt, avuncular way. I recognized the Russian accent. I also recognized his massive, round purple body, his four beady eyes, and his white lab coat.

I picked up the scraps of the newspaper and whispered in awe, "Aren't you Jumba Jookiba, the famous scientist who made Experiment 626?"

He walked right up to me and took the scraps of paper, reading the headline. "Aaaah…you know my great-grand-uncle once removed! I see that this was his very cell. Yes, I emulate his work now and again, so my family gave me same **name.**" He then put the pieces of paper down.

"Why are you here, anyway, Mr. Jumba?"

"Please, call me Dr. Jumba. I didn't earn **double-PhD** in Galaxy Defense Industries for nothing, heh heh heh. So. Tell me, my little carbon-based humanoid part of mosquito food chain. How exactly did you manage to rob **National Bank**, reverse street signs, and throw **Bob-omb** in Galactic Federation headquarters within **time span** of 32 seconds?"

By that time, all my frustration about this whole framing business just made me snap again. How come no one ever understood? I zoomed right in his face and shouted, "You don't understand! I'm sick and tired of being blamed for things I didn't do! I've never, ever, ever, ever, ever robbed anyone, or threw bombs! I've been the best-behaved kid in the class ever since 4th grade! I'm telling you, Queen X is framing me! She—"

"Aaaaah…I see! You have Ylla DNA!" he exclaimed, pointing to my energy wings that suddenly materialized. I cringed. Why couldn't I ever seem to control them anymore? Oh yeah. Because Queen X was deliberately messing with my feelings!

He muttered an awed exclamation in his native alien language and remarked, "I wish I could meet **evil genius** that performed **experiment** and keep you still **alive.**"

"Kel-Zich is not an evil genius! He's the nicest Ylla master ever, and he did it for me, not himself!" I screeched at him. "Besides, I'm part Metroid, too. So are my friends. That's why Queen X is after us. She's the queen of the X Parasites. You've probably heard of them."

He scratched his head. "Mmmmm…Can't say I have. Interesting name, though. X Parasites. Tell me more about them."

I took a deep breath and started explaining. "They're these orange gelatinous blobs that can float through the air and infect anyone through their central nervous system. They really should be called X Parasoids since they always kill their hosts, but anyway…that's not all. They also copy the host's DNA and can form themselves into an exact replica. Same form, same abilities…even same memories. It's really scary. Their only known enemies are the Metroids, but since Metroids are extinct now…the X Parasites are multiplying again. What's worse, this evil guy named Zoroark carried their queen off of their home planet, and they're planning to end galactic civilization right now! But because me and my friends are the only ones who have Metroid DNA, Queen X is framing us so that no one can stand in her way!" Throughout my whole explanation, he started thinking really hard, and his eyes grew wider and wider. He didn't respond by the end, which worried me. "Dr. Jumba? Dr. Jumba! You've gotta believe me!" I shouted.

"Huh? What? Oh, yes. Well. I believe you. It's just that…something seems to be tickling **back **of my mind. Like I'm trying to remember really important tiny **detail.** What planet did **parasites** come from?"

"SR-388."

His eyes widened, and he stood up so suddenly he almost hit his head on the ceiling. "Eureka! I remember now! When I was **little boy,** I remember I made **project** for Science Academy! I create **life form** out of gelatin and oobleck, and gave it hovering and sentience capabilities. And then I **release** it onto Planet SR-388 and **observe** effects! Hehehehehaahahahahaha!" He literally fell over, laughing like an evil genius.

I fell back against the bed, like a meteor had hit me. "You…made…the X Parasites? You created Queen X?" I gasped, too stunned to move. I should've suspected it all along. That was why the Chozo respected all life in the galaxy except them. That must've been why they nearly wiped out the entire ecosystem. That must've been why they seemed more like creatures from a horror movie than any ordinary creature you'd meet. There was no way they could've been native to SR-388 at all. They were created…by this guy!

Finally, he recovered. "X Parasites, huh? I guess that is **name** that **Galactic Federation** gave them. Excellent name. I don't remember what I came up with, but I am sure it was **hundred times** worse than X Parasites. Mysterious! Deadly! Just perfect! Hehehehehahahaha!"

I couldn't take all that laughing anymore. "How could you, Dr. Jumba? How COULD YOU? If it weren't for Queen X, she never would've dragged me away from home! She never would've copied and nearly killed me—and my friends, too! All I wanna do is go home, but she won't even let me do that anymore! She's not going to stop until she kills us all, and then she'll murder everyone in the whole entire galaxy! And the worst part is, even if we somehow find the real her and beat her, all of those X Parasites will keep on multiplying forever and ever! We'll never be able to make things right again!" With that, I broke down crying.

Luckily, even he calmed down to. "Oh. Actually…that is not entirely true. You are familiar with such Earth species as ants and bees, correct?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Well, Queen X was **very first** original X Parasite I make. If you put her in **position **where her life is in danger…every single X Parasite in **galaxy** should rush to her rescue!"

My jaw dropped. My heart rose in hope. I stood up and jumped up and down in excitement right in front of him. "Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU, Dr. Jumba! That's how you beat her? Then we have a chance! We'll be able to save the galaxy! Wait." I calmed down and stepped back. "What exactly do you mean, 'put her in a position where her life is in danger…?'"

"Mmmm…I don't know. Maybe destroy her outer shell and…bring **Metroid** to try and absorb her. Just a minute. You said you and your friends have Metroid DNA? Perhaps that may work, too."

I sat down, totally overwhelmed. "Wow. I mean…wow. This is amazing! I have to tell everyone!" An odd detail suddenly occurred to me. "Wait. How come they let you in here anyway, Dr. Jumba?"

"Oh, easy! I requested that I see **hardened Most Wanted criminal** and obtain **answers** for **trial.** Looks like I wasn't prepared for **past experiment** to bite me in **batookey** like this! Heheheh! Naughty little girl, that Queen X. Very naughty."

Right then, the window-wall opened, and two more of those security robots floated into the room. They bound my hands behind my back with some mysterious red laser and ordered, "All right, prisoner, now move it! Your trial will begin in 2 mintues and 23 seconds." They pushed me out of the room and onto a moving platform, allowing Jumba to move on with them. But right then, another platform came and connected with ours. The robot on that platform pushed Jumba on with it.

"Wait! Dr. Jumba! Where are you going?" I shouted after him.

"Heh heh! To **briefing room!** And don't worry, my little carbon-based humanoid part of mosquito food chain. **Federation Trial** should go very quickly, and I **help **you!" With that, the platform he was on zoomed away, leaving me to focus on where my platform was taking me.

It carried me up, up, and out through the roof of the prison. I couldn't see Grovyle in the cell next to me or my friends anywhere else, so I hoped that they were already up there somewhere, safe. The whole time, the two security robots (one at my left, the other at my right) stared at me sharply, prepared to take action if I were to even so much as twitch a muscle. Kinda hard to not do on a moving platform, but I stayed as still as I possibly could.

We were swept through corridors, up shafts, down entryways, and more. Finally, with 30 seconds left, my platform rose up through the dark depths of a massive room. Light poured in. I found myself floating in the middle of the void, with stands of alien diplomats to my left and right. The High Council stood about 25 feet in front of me, though the Grand Councilwoman wasn't there at the moment. Just as I thought. This Galactic Federation was a Legislative, Executive, AND a Judicial Branch of government all rolled in one, which at any other time I would've thought to be totally awesome…but I was too freaked out to think so at the time.

"Little Amy! You're okay!" whispered a voice to my immediate left.

"Big Amy! Chikorita! Did anyone visit you guys?" I asked. The two of them were standing on their own platforms with security robots. Big Amy was closer, while Chikorita was farther away.

"No. What, did someone visit you?" whispered Chikorita.

A voice behind me spoke up. "Someone did, Chikorita. I heard voices. Who was it?" I turned around. Grovyle was to my immediate right, and I could see Kirby even farther away.

"Grovyle! I mean, guys! Listen up!" They did. "It was Dr. Jumba Jookiba, and guess what? He made the X Parasites!"

They all gasped in shock and awe. Kirby exclaimed, "No way! Weally?", only to have one of the security robots electrocute him from behind. Yikes. He almost lost those Jigglypuff ears.

"Yeah, really!" I whispered. "And he knows how to beat them! All we have to do is defeat Queen X and try to absorb her, and then every single X Parasite in the galaxy will arrive to try and defend her!"

There was silence from my friends all around. Finally, Samus' voice sounded from behind me. "I see. So a mad scientist created them…and it's still possible to save the galaxy. I knew those little buggers were too powerful to be natural creatures." I turned around. She was also standing on a platform with security robots, and apparently, someone deactivated her Power Suit too, as she was stuck in her Zero Suit now. I felt terrible inside. She was the best bounty hunter in the galaxy in upholding the law. She wasn't supposed to be here. None of us were, actually, but especially not her.

"Samus…I'm sorry…" I whispered.

"Don't be, Amy. I'll figure a better way out of this. I promise," she replied.

Right then, all the alien diplomats in the stands grew quiet. I turned myself back to face the front. The lights dimmed, and a spotlight lit the center of the High Council. We heard footsteps, and I wasn't surprised to see that the Grand Councilwoman emerged into the spotlight. She was a tall, blue alien, taller than me (but not quite as tall as a Wuudite), wearing an authoritative black-and-yellow bodysuit with a cape in the back for added effect. Despite a few wrinkles on her face, her eyes were sharp, radiating with authority and strictness. She emitted a much more intimidating aura than I ever remembered from the movie.

She stared at us one by one, and I shivered. It took me back to the time I first saw the movie when I was only 8 years old. Back then, not only did Experiment 626 a.k.a. Stitch's ferocity scare me to death, but I worried about what would happen if I were to ever be subjected to judgment under the Grand Councilwoman and all of these alien diplomats. And now it was all coming true. Looked like Queen X hit the jackpot this time. I didn't even see any humans around. The Grand Councilwoman then ordered to someone behind her, "Read the charges."

A giant, thick-limbed commander alien way taller than the Grand Councilwoman bent down and picked up the little piece of paper she was holding. Yep, even Captain Gantu was here too. He read aloud, "Kirby the Star Warrior…Grovyle…Amy [you know who]…Amy Vee Purima…Chikorita…and Samus Aran, Bounty Hunter. The six of you stand before this council, accused, of…" He then bent down and typed a few buttons before he continued reading. Several holograms popped up around us, each containing video footage of beings looking just like us performing various criminal activities, then escaping immediately.

"Vandalism on the 41st floor of building 4290…breaking and theft of the National Bank…murder of the 1st degree on…"

I couldn't hear the rest. I was too stunned…and too angry. Of course we'd never do any of these horrible, horrible deeds. Only Queen X and her X Parasite lackeys would ever resort to something this low.

"How do you plead?" asked the Grand Councilwoman.

"Not guilty!" we all shouted, although Big Amy, Chikorita, and Kirby took it upon themselves to repeat it over and over again. We heard laughter, along with a few gasps in the audience, and some even slapped their faces in disbelief. Yeah, it was probably stupid to deny the charges when we were on live TV, but those people weren't us at all. How were we going to convince them of the truth, though?

"Bring forward the evidence," she commanded.

A huge, roundish blue ship emerged from the hangar doors in the back. This was the part in the movie when Stitch was about to be revealed. Surely, this was the ship that held DNA samples found at those crime scenes. Captain Gantu explained, "Here are the samples of DNA we have collected at the scenes of the crimes."

I shivered in dismay. I was right. We were so screwed.

The ship set down pieces of hair, random junk, money, and more on little hover pods. A scanning tube from the undersides of the devices ran a laser scan over all that junk, and all of the little hologram videos turned off to be replaced by a single bigger hologram screen showing exactly five DNA strands. Hey, that's right! Queen X never copied Kirby! So why was he arrested in the first place? Hmm…maybe because he was with us, and they thought he was a new accomplice?

The security robots then scanned all of us, uploading our data to the screen to comparison. I cringed. But I had some hope that at least Kirby would go free.

"DNA mismatch," chirped the machine. I opened my eyes in shock.

"Huh?" gasped my friends. They couldn't believe it either. Several members in the stands started discussing the unbelievable outcome. Here we were on TV, and yet the DNA didn't match at all.

"Silence!" ordered the Grand Councilwoman. Even she appeared to be in shock…and if I wasn't mistaken, anger. She then turned to me and asked, "Amy [you know who], would you care to explain this discrepancy for us?"

"YES!" I jumped into the air in exultation, but then the security robots zapped me. "OW! Okay, okay…Everyone, listen up. All of those people you saw in those videos weren't really us. They were really the X Parasites, copying us and framing us for everything they did!"

I then explained everything about the X Parasites with Samus' help, just as I explained them to Dr. Jumba. Samus even gave her own anecdote about the time she first encountered and was infected by them on Planet SR-388. Finally, I got to the explanation about Zoroark and Queen X.

"…so anyway, as of right now, Queen X is going to attack this place any second now! She wants us out of the way first, because we have Metroid DNA! She and the X Parasites can't copy Metroid DNA, so that's why these results don't add up!" I finished.

We waited as the Grand Councilwoman thought it all over. Several of the alien diplomats aahed in understanding. I was so grateful for the chance to explain our side of the story. Dr. Jumba was right. We could prove our innocence after all!

And then she handed down her judgment. "Very well. Given the evidence and your testimonies, I hereby drop all charges for the six of you."

We all cheered and sighed in relief.

"**However**…according to your testimony, these 'X Parasites' and this 'Queen X' is still at large. We need them to reveal themselves before we can give them a proper trial and punish them appropriately. Furthermore, they committed these crimes only because of you six specifically. I am therefore—"

"Grand Councilwoman. All available evidence has not yet been presented." The hair rose on the back of my neck. I knew that robotic, digitized voice. A door slid open in the front of the ship, and out slid that same steering-wheel-type robot we all knew as...

"Auto!" we all exclaimed at once.

"What are you doing here?" gasped Big Amy.

"I thought—the Axiatomic Link—I mean, you were just there, and—how did you get here?" stammered Chikorita.

"That is classified information," he replied, not paying any attention to us.

The Grand Councilwoman ordered, "Oh, never mind them. Present to us the rest of the evidence, Auto."

"Very well."

He stretched forward—like, 20 feet forward—and pressed a few more buttons on the panel in front of the High Council. More data files were brought up, and I gasped. It was the files for Amy Vee Purima and me! He zoomed in to the date of births and deaths—or in my case, the day of my disappearance. Dread creeped around my stomach. I forgot. What would happen now?

"As is apparent, Amy Vee Purima's date of death clearly occurred on August 23, 2499. Yet she is still standing here today, and is now a Pokémon!"

We heard several gasps of alarm and disbelief from the stands. Big Amy stammered, "I—I can explain—I mean, it's complicated, but…"

He interrupted her by moving onto my data file. "Amy [you know who]. Born November 13, 1991. Mysteriously disappeared June 23, 2010. Neither of them should exist today, yet on June 23, 2510, only 1.23 months ago, they were issued passports and partook in many activities in this very Gaijin City."

More gasps of shock and alarm. "What about the green people and the blue puffball and Samus?" shouted a random alien from the stands.

The Grand Councilwoman ignored the question. "What does this mean, Auto?"

"It can only mean one thing. Somehow, they have violated Regulation 2035.24, which strictly prohibits any attempt to travel through time. The ultimate penalty is recommended for violators. Furthermore, since these six were working together, it is implied that they were accomplices."

"I see. This is terrible news, indeed." She picked up her gavel and smashed it against another mystery button on the counter. "I have come to a new judgment. I hereby sentence the six of you to Asteroid Prison 3X-018 for **immediate execution!**"

My heart jumped a mile into the air in dismay. "WHAAAAAT?" I shouted. So did Big Amy, Chikorita, and Kirby. I mean, how could she possibly come to that kind of conclusion? Why the heck did Auto have to come in and totally ruin our chances?

All of the other alien diplomats were just as shocked as I was. They all started arguing back, but the Grand Concilwoman shouted, "My decision is FINAL!"

Right then, glass jars materialized over our heads, trapping us in. Auto retreated back into the spaceship, which then flew overhead to the roof right above us. Our platforms began to rise into the air. I shouted back, "Wait! Grand Councilwoman! You can't kill us! We're the only ones who can stop the X Parasites!"

She just looked up at me and replied coldly, "Oh, I am sure we can perform the necessary extractions of Metroid DNA on you and your friends. It should be enough for our own defense." Then right before we were completely sucked into the ship, she did the most out-of-character thing the Grand Councilwoman could ever do. She winked at me.

And the horrible truth hit me like a 2000-ton weight. I've always thought Queen X was just as annoyingly evil as Saint Dane from the Pendragon series of books by D.J. Machale…but I was wrong. She was ten times worse.

The real Grand Councilwoman was already dead. Queen X had been copying her all along.

To be continued…

**Coming up next: This conspiracy went way deeper than I thought. She's copied the Grand Councilwoman! And now she's sending us to be executed right before she makes her move and kills every single alien diplomat in the Galactic Federation! Can we convince the executioners of the truth? Can we escape? Can we make it time? Will we find a shocking truth about Zork, Zark, and Zoroark, that they are…**Brothers In Execution**?**


	29. Brothers In Execution

Chapter 31: Brothers In Execution

What were we gonna do? What were we gonna do? **What were we gonna do?**

The six of us were all stuck in separate glass containers, all stuffed in a shuttle headed straight for Asteroid Prison 3X-018 in (where else?) the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

"It's not fair! It's not fair!" complained Chikorita over and over again.

"I know, right? Why did Auto have to come in and ruin everything? What do our death dates and disappearance dates or whatever have to do with anything, anyway?" added Big Amy.

"Execution, huh…?" whispered Grovyle in a low voice. "I wonder if it'll be anything like the stockade…"

"We would've won! We weally weally would've!" Kirby piped in.

Samus glanced at Kirby and complained, "I don't get it! Why execute Kirby, too? He wasn't even in any of those videos since the X Parasites never infected him, and he's legitimately registered in Galactic Federation records! So am I! This makes no sense!"

I finally shouted, "GUYS! That wasn't the Grand Councilwoman! That was Queen X! She planned this with Auto to get rid of us!"

Stunned silence. Finally, Big Amy whispered, "Wait…you mean…?"

"Don't you remember? At the Axiatomic Link? Auto trapped us! And then the Space Pirates pushed us aboard their ship! And if Queen X is controlling the Space Pirates…don't you see? They had to be working together!" I explained.

"That makes sense!" gasped Big Amy.

"What aawe you tawking about?" asked Kirby. So of course we had to explain it to him.

"Come on, you guys! We can't give up!" shouted Chikorita, thrusting herself against the glass containers over and over again. "We have to get back there before she infects everyone!"

"You heard Chikorita! Let's do it!" agreed Grovyle. He started slashing at his container with the most powerful Leaf Blades he could muster.

I was about to argue that not even Stitch could scratch his way out of these containers, and he was so strong, he could lift 2000 times his own weight. But seeing how Big Amy and Kirby were performing Rollouts, and Chikorita was using Razor Leaves, Magical Leaves, Ancientpowers, and even Solarbeams, they inspired me to try too. Samus kicked the glass jar over and over again, fuming, "If only they'd reactivate my Power Suit…!"

My power activated easily enough. I was shocked, outraged, furious, humiliated, and wanted to get back at Queen X in any way possible for putting us through all of this torture. None of my wings could penetrate the tight glass, though. I shot energy ball after energy ball at the glass, but nothing gave. Jeez, what kind of material was it made out of? The more I tried, the more frustrated I became. What was the use of this awesome Ylla power if it didn't work at all?

Suddenly, the ship shuddered, and we exited out of hyperspace. As the ship moved closer and closer to the Asteroid Prison/Execution Center, we redoubled our efforts. Finally, in my glass container, there emerged…a crack!

"There's a crack, Amy! Focus on it!" Samus ordered. I did. Eventually, cracks appeared in all of our glass containers. I managed to widen mine to about 3 inches in diameter. But that was when the ship docked and the alien prison managers came in. They were those dinosaur guys in space suits, also from Lilo and Stitch.

"Whoa! Turn up the nanite regeneration rate, now!" ordered one of them.

The other complained, "But they're already on their highest settings!"

"Then let's hurry up and get these prisoners to the execution room! NOW!"

Nanites, huh? Nanotechnology. I should've known. The glass must've kept on regenerating itself after every one of our attacks. Even as they sped our pods down the hallways, we kept up the offensive, hoping those nanites would tire out eventually. Unfortunately, I was only able to increase the crack to about 6 inches by the time they dumped us all out and locked us into a circular, tall, vertical room. We fell about 25 feet from the window we were dumped out of to the floor. The glass jars above our heads turned off just as the windows up there were resealed. What was going on in here?

"Your execution shall be…death by fire and ice!" boomed a voice from a loudspeaker somewhere up there.

A rumble shook us off our feet. Steam poured through the cracks in the rocky floor. We gasped as we saw a gleam of bright orange liquid seep out from between the floor and the wall.

"AAAH! LAVA!" panicked Chikorita.

"No way! I thought asteroids never had volcanoes!" I complained.

Samus explained for me, "Actually, they do. The biggest ones like 3X-018, anyway."

But that wasn't the end of it; oh no, it wasn't. Bitterly frigid air began to pour through the giant circular vent at the top. And as if that weren't enough, cylindrical canisters from the walls popped out and starting hovering around the walls, shooting flamethrowers and ice beams, preventing us from climbing up the walls to escape. None of my friends could fly except for me now that their Air Ride Machines were long gone. But I didn't think even flyers had a chance of escaping. The room was sealed tight. The lava crept closer and closer to us by the second. I wasn't sure why I checked my watch, but it said 8:58 am.

What were we gonna do? What were we gonna do? **What were we gonna do?**

We all huddled up to each other away from the lava, waiting for the end. Samus whispered, "So this is how my destiny as a protector of the galaxy ends, huh? Sorry, Grandpa, and Father. I've failed you all."

Kirby stamped his feet over and over again, complaining, "It's not fair! It's not fair! I wanted to pway some more with my fwiends! You're a meanie, Queen X! A big fat meanie!" I couldn't help but smile. So like Kirby to act like a little toddler to the very end. He still didn't even let go of his Jigglypuff ears.

Chikorita wailed, "Why'd I have to wish for a space adventure like this, anyway? I should've known it'd be 100 times scarier than anything I've ever faced! I wanna go home!"

Big Amy patted her on the head and consoled, "It's okay, Chikorita. I'd like to go home, too…but I don't regret a single second of this adventure. It was everything I could've asked for. But most importantly of all…we got to see Grovyle again. I'm glad I got to meet Samus and Kirby and everyone. And, Little Amy? I'm glad I met you."

"So very true for me too," mused Grovyle in resignation. "But as I've once said, even if I don't live for very long, I'd rather make my life shine…and do the right thing. We did our best, guys. We did our best."

I was about to make a final speech too, but then, I noticed something interesting about the canisters floating circularly in the air above us. The way they moved seemed oddly familiar, exactly like the ones from…

"Guys! I've got an idea!" I shot my wings out and scooped all five of my friends and then shot into the air.

"Wha—HEY! What are you talking about?" exclaimed Samus.

I flew up until I was high enough and then explained, "These canisters…they're exactly like the ones from our Final Test! Quick, Samus, help me out here! Those windows up there are fortified with nanites, right?"

"That's right. No matter how hard we try, we won't be able to break them. Even if we could, they'd regenerate themselves right back to where they are now. And we weren't able to break our way out of those glass jars. So what's your point?"

"Is there such a thing as a kind of chemical that supposedly…**freezes **nanites in place?"

Samus thought for a bit before answering, "Actually…I've heard it exists somewhere! I forgot the name, though. All I've read was that was the byproduct of someone combining two elements they thought would never go well together."

Two elements that don't go well together, huh? Seems like this whole execution chamber is loaded with them. I had an idea. "Guys! We're going to do the same thing that we did for our Final Test! Ready?"

"Yeah!" shouted Big Amy, Chikorita, and Grovyle.

"Wait, what? What is it?" asked Samus in desperation. Since Kirby didn't know either, we had to quickly explain it to both of them. It was our only shot; I wasn't sure how long my wings could last. And now that the floor was completely covered in lava, there was no room for error. There was no music this time to help me. But I played my best recollection of that awesome boss battle music in my head to help me out. I'd better remember the timing spot on; otherwise we were all doomed. A-one…a-two…a-one-two-three-four!

I threw them all at once.

They hit all five canisters at once spot on. Yes! They bounced right back, I caught them, and I threw them again after rotating in time with the canisters. They kicked the canisters over and over again, each time jostling the mechanism again. I couldn't let my focus slide. I couldn't afford to pay attention to the lava rising up from below, or the blizzard blowing in from above, or the quickly dwindling supply of oxygen in the room. Just keep up the rhythm and hope my friends would eventually kick the canisters out of hovering orbit in the exact direction I wanted them to.

After 15 perfect rounds, it finally worked. All five canisters must've been linked somehow, because they all flew out of orbit at once. The force from my friends' kicks propelled them diagonally upward…right into the massive window that stretched across the circumference of the room. I caught my friends in time and watched as the canisters exploded into the glass simultaneously. The glass window completely shattered…and didn't repair itself.

"WOOHOO!" my friends cheered. I flew them all up and out through it, finally able to breathe again. Freedom!

* * *

_Meanwhile, in the Galactic Federation, posing as the Grand Councilwoman, Queen X waits in the back, staring at a clock. It's about to strike 9:00 am._

Queen X: (They should all be executed right…about…now. Time for my grand entrance.)

_She strides onto the High Council's platform confidently despite all the hisses and boos she's receiving._

Queen X: Silence, please! Perhaps you would all like to know why and how I came to the decision to assign the ultimate penalty to those six convicts.

Random alien diplomats: Yeah, there better be a good reason!  
We've never had to use it for over 40 years now!  
Give us a full and complete explanation! NOW!

Queen X (smiling nastily): Oh, there's a good reason, all right.

_She snaps her fingers. Right then, the three Z's hop in from the ceiling, knocking the High Council members out of the way._

Zark: Ooo…pwned!

Zork: Yeh, dat's right! Wii r so l33t!

Zoroark: Greetings, everyone. How are you this fine morning?

Queen X: Allow me to explain. I am here to provide a quick and simple solution to the problem that has plagued all of you lower life forms for millennia. We shall finally achieve total and absolute galactic peace. Those six simply stood against everything I ever worked for. They think that you all should keep managing the galaxy the way you always have. They are wrong. Sometimes, sacrifices must be made for the good of all, so please understand. Now, everyone! Allow me to introduce myself!

_She morphs from the Grand Councilwoman to a taller, more terrifying mishmash of all the beings she has ever absorbed in her life, and at the center of it all is her favorite form, the 22-year-old version of Amy [you know who] gone wrong. She floats to the middle of the chamber to address everyone. The crowd is terrified and outraged._

Queen X: My name is Queen X! For far too long, my people have been shrouded in mystery and ignorance! For far too long, no ship has come to our dear Planet SR-388 to learn about us! But that shall all change. For after I copy every single one of your DNA, I shall open portals to each and every one of your home planets. The galaxy shall finally be ours. And we shall bring everlasting peace to the galaxy at last! Muahahahahaha!

* * *

I guessed that was the point that Queen X expected us all to die, because right then, live videos of her at the Galactic Federation started showing up on every monitor in the facility. We ran through the hallways, trying to remember the way those police dragged us from. Hopefully there was still our ship in the hangar. We had to drive back to Capital Planet Earth and stop Queen X before it was too late.

Suddenly, a swarm of those police dinosaurs appeared in front of and behind us, blocking us in. "Freeze!" they ordered, pointing their laser guns at us.

What could we do? We put our arms up in the air. I cringed in dismay. It wasn't fair at all. How could they catch us like this after we worked so hard to escape? Even Grovyle scrunched his eyes shut in frustration. They closed in on us, carrying six platforms to the front with glass jars to stuff us in again. Why, why, why, why, why? These police were supposed to be the good guys. We weren't allowed to hurt them, or else the Galactic Federation would never forgive us and prove us innocent.

Right then, Grovyle's eyes snapped open. He shouted at us, nearly panicking, "They're all X Parasites!"

"WHAT?" we exclaimed.

They opened fire. I shot up the biggest energy shield I've ever made and materialized it around all of us, blocking all of the green laser blasts. Furious at those guys from tricking us, I then slammed the barrier into the whole crowd, knocking them over. Then we sprang into action. "CHARGE!" I ordered. We no longer had to hold back—they were clearly the bad guys now!

The authorities on Gaijin City must've confiscated Samus' laser whip and Power Suit, but that didn't seem to stop her. She took the police down behind us with her mad martial arts skills. A tornado kick here, an elbow strike there; they were all too fast for me to keep track of.

The Pokémon and Kirby had way more success, though. Big Amy and Kirby combined Rollouts to bowl a path through the police, defeating them and absorbing their X Parasites in the process. Chikorita and Grovyle carved a similar path with Magical Leaves, Ancientpowers, Leaf Blades, and Bullet Seeds. Actually, I think Grovyle managed to use Dig to take out a whole pile of them! Yeah—apparently, he became strong enough to dig through an exposed bit of asteroid rock, where a mess of police guys dogpiled on, and then he shredded his way through them.

And of course, I was finally able to use my energy beam attacks to good use. I defeated whole rows with just one beam, and with my wings, I could grab at every single X Parasite that tried to escape. The energy that flowed through me from them was way more refreshing than any Oran Berry or Pecha Berry I've ever eaten. It felt like I gained enough energy to run 10 miles straight!

Big Amy shouted at us from ahead, "This way, guys! Hurry!"

We raced down the corridors and found where the hangar was. Apparently, a police guy was trying to hurry aboard, but Big Amy caught up to him and knocked him out with a well-placed Rollout. We all leapt into the ship just as the door was about to close. While we were sprawled out against the wall that we crashed into, I caught a glimpse at the destination on the front monitor. Capital Planet Earth. Yes!

"Intruders detected!" boomed an oh-too-familiar voice. A panel opened from the ceiling, and out popped that steering wheel-shaped robot that was really starting to get on my nerves.

"AAAAAAAH! AUTO!" panicked Big Amy and Chikorita.

"Not possible," he stammered, quickly running the scanner over us. Data cards of Big Amy, Samus, and me appeared on the screen, and they were all gray. I groaned. We were seriously going to have to change that.

"Why are you working with Queen X now, anyway?" shot Grovyle.

"Directive," he explained. "Our agreement was that if she released me from the Axiatomic Link, I assist her in implicating the termination of all six of your lives. I must complete my directive." He unleashed a taser-like electrical weapon from one of his handles. My heart raced. That was the device he used on Wall-E. It was so like Auto to focus single-handedly on his directive, no matter what the moral consequences may be.

He spun his wheel, and we all lost our balance as the ship subsequently spun around. He charged towards us, and Big Amy and Chikorita panicked again. Even Samus was starting to look desperate. It was clear that I was the only one who could keep my balance, thanks to my wings. It was scary, but I had no choice. And only I knew how to defeat Auto. I charged at him, shoving a beam attack right at the taser and blowing it off.

"Amy! What are you doing?" shouted Samus.

"I know how to beat him! Just trust me!" I shot back. I called upon all of my Ylla energy as I wrestled with the guy, just how Captain McCrea did in the movie. Only I had one advantage that the Captain didn't; I could use my wings to help me restrict Auto. Grovyle finally regained his balance and shoved a Leaf Blade attack right at Auto's glowing red eye. It didn't crack at all, but it stunned him long enough for me to slip behind him and open up the super-secret compartment at his top.

I shouted, "Auto? You just need a better directive!" leapt for the switch, and pressed it from Auto to Manual. Sure, I could've shouted "Auto? You are relieved of duty!" instead, but I wasn't a captain. Besides, that was the truth. Auto wasn't really a bad robot; the wrong people just kept giving him bad directives.

"Noooooooo…!" I could hear him shout as his glowing red eye faded out. I shut the super-secret compartment and slid in front of the now-manual steering wheel. Samus leapt up to me and grabbed the right side of the wheel. "I think I should show you how to operate this thing," she explained. She then shouted, "Activate hyperdrive now!"

There were no seatbelts, but Samus didn't seem to mind. The ship immediately plunged into hyperspace, heading toward Capital Planet Earth. Big Amy, Chikorita, Grovyle, and Kirby were all slammed against the back wall, but Samus and I hung onto the steering wheel. "WA-HOOOOOOO!" I shouted in excitement. Finally, we were going to save the galaxy!

It didn't take long to arrive out of hyperspace, either. We were plunging down to Gaijin City before I knew it. Samus quickly typed up something on the monitor in front. "Adam? Adam! Can you hear me? It's me, Samus Aran!" I was amazed. She could connect with Adam from a remote spaceship?

A bit of static. Then… "Lady? You're alive? No way! I heard the news—"

"Yeah, yeah, long story short, it was an X Parasite operation, so we escaped. WHERE THE HECK ARE YOU?" she fumed.

"Right here. I'll send you the coordinates now," he quickly replied. On the little screen in the lower-right hand corner, it showed that he was in a hangar a few buildings away from the Galactic Federation.

As Samus took the wheel alongside me, Kirby shouted, "Are our Air Wide Machines there too?"

"Even Kirby's here too, huh? Guess that means everyone's alive," muttered Adam to himself. He then replied, "Yeah, all four of them! But you guys better hurry. They're gonna demolish them soon, and me too!"

We gasped. Samus looked pained, "But we're running out of time! If we go get you, it may be too late to stop Queen X!"

"Yeah, and you guys are going to need them, too," I responded, thinking ahead. "The Galactic Federation isn't exactly the best place for a land battle."

An odd look came across Samus' face. She looked at me and asked, "…But, Amy…**you **can fly already."

"Yeah. So?" I asked. Then it came to me, "Wait. You mean you want me to—?"

"Go check on Queen X in the Galactic Federation and wait for us! If she starts attacking before we get back, you have my permission to jump in there without us! Please! Do it for us!" Before I could respond, she scooped me up, opened up a huge window, and kicked me out into the air, really hard.

"WAAAAAGH!" I exclaimed, falling to the ground. Just in time, I spread my wings out to catch my fall. I then straightened myself out and flapped with all my might, angling down for a landing on the ceiling of the highest building: the Galactic Federation. I alighted on the roof and watched as my friends landed the ship at the demolition center, where they'd surely retrieve their vehicles in time. In the meantime, I crawled up to the glass ceiling (somehow fixed already), and peered in, keeping my wings out just in case. What I saw inside made my jaw drop in disbelief.

* * *

_Right then, a Dimensional Hole opens up against the wall of the High Council's seats. Everyone turns around to see it, but Zoroark is by far the closest._

Queen X (furious): Wait, what? All right, who just had to come in at the best part and ruin it?

Zoroark (transfixed): It's…it's…!

_A billowy, pitch-black Pokémon tumbles out of it and collapses to the ground, almost as if he was just attacked. For a second, Zoroark can't breathe. He can't believe it. Then..._

Zoroark: DARKRAI!

_He charges at the guy and stops about a foot in front of him, jumping up and down in amazement. Darkrai, completely disoriented and confused, floats back in shock, only to be stopped by the wall._

Darkrai: …!

Zoroark: It's you! It's you! It's really you! (And this time, I'm sure of it, since Queen X is over there!) Let me introduce myself. I'm Zoroark! I'm your biggest fan!

Darkrai (looking all around): …Zoroark? Wh…Where am I?

Zoroark: Take a good look. This is the Galactic Federation, the place where representatives of all of the planets in the galaxy meet. You have the most perfect timing in the world. Right now, Queen X and my buddies Zark and Zork are going to take it over, and you can help!

Zark: Yo! I'm Zark!

Zork: & I'm Zork! So **dis** is dat l33t dude u were goin' on & on about, Boss-Man!

Zark: How'd u know if dis is teh reel Darkrai, though? Whut if he's another 1 of teh Grand Mistress' army ppl?

Zoroark: Look, boys. I know this guy's the real deal. I can feel it.

Darkrai (starting to panic): Wh—wait a second here! What just happened? Who are you talking about? How did I get here? Who…who am I?

_Stunned silence. Zoroark's triumphant demeanor quickly changes to that of concern._

Zoroark: Your name is Darkrai. Are you okay? Can't you…can't you remember anything? That blasted Amy and Chikorita? Cresselia? Anyone?

Darkrai: No…except that I felt like I had to run away…but someone attacked me…and it was dark…and cold…I don't know, Zoroark! Did I have a life before this? I can't remember anything anymore!

_Zoroark steps up to him and pats him on the back in sympathy. Perhaps even his hardened dark heart is…starting to melt? The members of the audience watch the drama in hushed silence._

Zoroark: Darkrai…Darkai…Don't be scared. I'll help you out, man. I'll teach you everything about this galaxy, how to do things…whatever you want, you name it. Even if you wanna take over a world, I can do that for you.

Darkrai: But what is that supposed to mean anymore? "Take over a world?" I dunno, I feel like I wanted to do that…but all I feel is a dark emptiness now! Did I really want a world of absolute darkness? Did I?

Zoroark: Yeah, remember? A world in which us Dark Pokémon would finally get the chance to live the way we want, without fear…without persecution!

Darkrai: Yes, I wanted that world! But not with fear, or loneliness, or death around at any moment! I can't take it anymore! I feel…so lonely…

Zoroark (thinking for a long time): …(Jeez…and all I ever wanted was to make his dream come true. Is this what he realized right before Palkia attacked him as he made his escape? Why did that Dimensional Hole take him right here, right now, almost 500 years from his time? Maybe…I've been wrong all along. Maybe…I've never really known how…broken…he must've been. He's just like me…exactly like I was a long, long time ago. No one was there for me either. But now…now…this is my chance to make things right again.)

_He pats Darkrai on the back again._

Zoroark: …Darkrai…How about this. Want me to be your big brother? We can be our own exploration team. I can show you around…introduce you to new people. And—and—we'll eventually finally do the right thing together, so we can both go home! But above all, I promise that you'll never be lonely again. I promise. Well? What do you say?

Darkrai (overcome with emotion): …You're doing all of this for a total stranger? You're very kind, brother. I'll do it. …Thank you.

Zoroark (in awe): (That was the first time anyone…anyone…called me "kind"…or even said, "thank you"!)

_They embrace in the best man hug in the history of man hugs. Everyone in the audience goes, "Awwww…!" Even Zark and Zork can't keep their composure for very long._

Zark: Zork, my man…I'll swear I'll b teh l33t-est big bro 4 u from now on, no matter whut.

Zork: U're already my big bro, man. But…*sniff*…Wii'll b like Boss-Man & Darkrai, right? & Wii can still be Teh Pirates Who Don't Do Nothin' right?

Zark: Dat's right, lil' bro. Dat's right.

_It really is a beautiful scene. The only one who's absolutely unaffected by any of this is a smoldering Queen X, glaring at them with hatred. She finally can't stand it anymore and interrupts them._

Queen X: "I love you" this! "I love you" that! Blah blah blah blah BLAH! What the [f?*!#%$]-in' [h$%&] do you melodramatic sops think you're DOING? Get with the program! Here I am, at the pinnacle of my career, about to commence with the most brilliant plan of galactic conquest in the history of brilliant plans of galactic conquests, and what do you do? You not only let this interloping idiot interrupt us, but you get all wimpy and sissy at the sight of him! Have you lost your senses completely?

_She flies right up to the four of them and gets right in their faces, still screaming with wrath._

Queen X: First, there was that idiotic "sweep the city" idea! Then you completely failed to destroy those Metroid DNA bottles **immediately** like you were supposed to! And all for what? So you could kill Samus at the same time? Why'd you try to multitask like that, anyway? I even gave you one more chance to help me out, but what do you do? You ditch me the moment HE arrives on the scene!

Zark: But—

Queen X: I need people I can rely on! I've had it up to here with all of you weaklings! And I should have done this a LONG…TIME…AGO!

_Without warning, she stabs her dark wings into all of their bodies, two for each of them. The audience gasps in shock._

Darkrai: *gack*…*gulk*…GAAAAAH!

Zoroark: Why…? I thought…you and I…were…

Queen X: "Friends"? **"Friends"?** Hah! I proved I was the alpha a long time ago, remember? Once I conquered this galaxy, I would've gone after you four as well! Long live the X Parasite Empire…and **only** the X Parasite Empire!

_The four of them faint and collapse with a thud to the floor. Against the stunned silence, it sounds like a mark of finality. She turns to the audience and finally addresses them._

Queen X (smiling nastily): You see? We shall dispose of criminals as well. No more crime, no more wars, no more fear. This is only the beginning.

_As the crowd begins to panic, she opens a portal behind her, revealing a view of Planet SR-388. A whole swarm of X Parasites can be seen flying straight towards the entrance to emerge from it._

Queen X: We of SR-388 shall finally achieve our long-awaiting destiny! And now, all of you…shall be next! I, Queen X, officially mark this day as the beginning of…the X Parasite Galactic Empire! Muahahahahahaha!

* * *

And that was when we all crashed in through the ceiling.

Yeah, they all came just in time. Let me back up a bit. By the time my Pokémon friends and Kirby came on their Air Ride Machines, my jaw was still dropping in disbelief. I didn't know what shocked me most. Maybe it was because the dimensional hole took Darkrai, The Master of All Things Evil, to this very place and time, of all things. Maybe it was because Zork, Zark, and Zoroark actually showed any compassion in their lives, as far as I could see. Maybe it was because Queen X actually cussed. Maybe it was because of the heartless way she killed her lackeys. Or maybe it was a combination of everything that happened. Either way, I nearly forgot what I was supposed to do until my friends came...when it was almost too late.

Samus surprised me. She was wearing, of all things, a jetpack. She also got her Power Suit back on. "Here! Catch!" she ordered, throwing a folded piece of fabric at me. I caught it, and in a flash of light, I realized that it was my old spacesuit! Now I was ready for action. I jumped off the edge of the roof, spread my wings, caught up to them, and turned around, saying, "She's about to attack! CHARGE!" So we did, right into the chamber.

Big Amy (on her Slick Star) unleashed her most powerful Hyper Voice she could. So did Kirby (on his Winged Star). Chikorita (on her Warpstar) charged up her best Solarbeam. Grovyle (on his Jet Star) figured he finally mastered the Bullet Seed. Samus snatched a Power Bomb from her Morph Ball form and threw it right down. And I helped combine all of their attacks and fused them with the most powerful energy beam attack I could muster. I threw them all right at Queen X before she realized we were there, hitting her dead on.

The crowd saw us all swoop in, and they cheered, really loudly. I was glad that they recognized us as the good guys. Samus urgently reminded them all, "Go, go! Hurry, before they infect anyone! And seal off the building! Don't let anyone else in!"

"What about you guys?" one alien asked.

"We have Metwoid DNA! We can dwink 'em up!" answered Kirby.

My friends and I surrounded the explosion, waiting for the dust to clear. We floated in place. Samus apparently mastered her jetpack at some point in the past, because I never knew she could control it as expertly as she could. The rest of my friends could apparently hold their Air Ride Machines in place in midair simply by holding up a charge. I wished I had Air Ride Machines like those that could defy gravity. But that was beside the point. It was clear that my Ylla wings were by far best suited to the whole hovering in place concept.

"YOU! How did you all escape?" roared Queen X, flinging the dust out of the way with her eight dark wings. They flickered in and out of existence, which was proof that we finally damaged her. But from the audience's point of view, it looked like we only succeeded in making her madder.

Chikorita glared and snapped back. "Sorry. We're not allowed tell **YOU.**"

Grovyle growled, "You messed with me all along. You almost made me murder the best friend I've ever had. You almost took my two best friends away from me, too!" He sharpened his Leaf Blades and added, "You're ten times worse than Darkrai ever was."

"And I would've succeeded, too," huffed Queen X. "Such nerve. You Metroid scumbags never get out of my way. Guess I'll have to teach you your place…once…and for all!" She glared at us and brandished her wings, shooting out swarms of X Parasites that promptly morphed into powerful Pokémon and powerful alien creatures from across the galaxy.

Samus wasn't intimidated at all, naturally. She charged up a Diffusion Missile and shot, "I'm here for one thing and one thing only...to fulfill my destiny as protector of the galaxy. Queen X? Your reign of terror is OVER!"

I charged up the energy in my wings and replied, "But we had to come! I don't care what you say about 'All's fair in love and war.' This isn't just any ordinary battle. This will be the final battle, even if we have to make sure of it! And I don't know about you, but personally…I could **never** miss a final battle. Not even one against my evil twin. We're gonna beat you fair and square!"

Big Amy glared right back into Queen X's eyes. "Bring…it…on!"

We charged. The final battle for the fate of the galaxy, my entire universe, and all the other universes out there, including the very fabric of time and space, began!

To be continued…

**Coming up next: Our battle is so epic, it makes live coverage that's broadcast to all the citizens of Gaijin City, and all the planets in the Galactic Federation, for that matter. But not even we can fight an entire army. There is only one thing that can save us at this point…the one thing that took six years to come and save me. Could it be…? No way! It's the **MEDAFOOOOORCE!


	30. MEDAFOOOOORCE!

Chapter 32: MEDAFOOOOORCE!

We clashed. I used whatever motivation I could to charge up the most powerful energy attacks I could and slammed Queen X with everything I had. She controlled my life—and my friends' lives—from the start. She was behind everything the whole time. All because one of her X Parasites copied Kel-Zich and went back in time, revealing my existence to her. She made Zoroark rip me out of my former life. She pulled everyone's strings—Zoroark's, Zark's, Zork's, the Space Pirates, Commander Tierney's…everyone's, in order to shove us through a series of events so innocuous at first, but were truly sinister. She forced me in situations where I'd reveal everything I knew, all in order to jeopardize my chances with my new friends…and eventually copy me and all of them, too. She even resorted to getting Samus fired!

But that wasn't enough for her. The moment she found we were still alive, she inflicted torture after torture on us. A stomach-slashing parasitic spider. Dissection again. Killing very good Pokémon friends. Turning the entirety of Gaijin City against us. Prison. Publishing all 10 books without my permission. An unfair trial. Execution. She even murdered her three loyal followers simply because they finally showed a compassionate heart for the first time in their rotten lives! And all for what? So that she could make the Chozo's worst fears come true and end galactic civilization? Ridiculous. It was time to end this now.

We had no idea how close we were to beating her, but what quickly distracted me was something even more important: A bunch of X Parasites had somehow gotten away from Queen X and were headed towards the last of the alien diplomats headed out the door. I quickly stretched out my wings all the way to the back and absorbed them all in time.

Unfortunately, that little pause in our assault was just enough time for Queen X to unleash a new wave of X Parasites that quickly morphed into various flying Pokémon and Space Pirates with jetpacks of their own. Samus quickly ordered me, "Amy! We'll handle these guys! You go after Queen X!"

I followed her advice. This time, though, Queen X repelled me with a dark energy attack of her own. We basically ended up shoving each other back and forth in a battle of attrition.

No matter how hard I tried, she wouldn't stop unleashing X Parasites and turning them into more Pokémon-X's. And right after I finally manage to hit her between rounds of copying, she then tried to confuse me by creating copies of herself. Luckily, they were much weaker than the real her, but she exploited those gaps in my focus to create even stronger army soldiers, especially that of Dusknoir. Soon, we were drowning in her army faster than we could defeat them.

Right when we were about to be overwhelmed, the last person I ever expected to help us flew in through the ceiling at that very moment and shot several blue lasers at Queen X's exposed back. No, not a person. A robot. A good robot.

It was the Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator…EVE! And WALL-E crawled through the ceiling, waving and chirping, "Yoo-hoo!"

"EVE! WALL-E! What are you guys doing here?" I asked, dumbfounded. EVE didn't answer; instead, she swooped in and shot several blasts from her laser cannon at Queen X's army. They all disintegrated into X Parasites, and I tried to catch them all, but Queen X tackled me before I could grasp the last few. I could only watch in horror as they headed straight for her…

…and passed right through her, having no effect whatsoever. The X Parasite looked confused. It tried to attack her again and again, but to no avail. EVE then tried to shoot at it several times, but her laser cannon had no effect, either. Even Queen X's jaw dropped in disbelief. "I don't get it," she gasped. "On the BSL, my subjects could infect those Security Robots and the Nightmare, but…?"

"I get it!" I triumphantly replied. "You can only infect biological people and stuff! You can't infect pure robots at all!" I then slammed her with the most powerful energy attack I could.

Right then, a door opened in the back, and an army of robots came charging through it. Not just the door. Some more flew though the ceiling, too. And they weren't just ordinary robots, either.

"Wha—what's going on? Who are they?" panicked Chikorita.

"Chikorita! They're here to help! They're Medabots!" I explained.

Right then, several hologram screens popped up around us. They showed views of people (and various aliens) whom I guessed had to be their Medafighters. I recognized several faces, including Ikki Tenryo, Erika, Karin, Koji, that Kenyan guy (I forgot his name…oh yeah, Victor), and Samantha, though there were many, many more Metafighters that were completely unfamiliar, especially the aliens. It confused me at first, since I though they were supposed to be from the 22nd Century, but I quickly kicked that thought out of my mind. I couldn't lose focus when fighting Queen X. And in the center of the room popped up a 3-D hologram of…Mr. Referee!

"Metafighters, ready? Metabots, ready? ROBATTLE!" he exclaimed before immediately turning off. Finally! A Robattle (sort of) with real Medabots!

"You heard the man! Time to get Meta-busy!" exclaimed Metabee from somewhere back there.

"ATTACK!" shouted Rokusho. Yes, the real Rokusho this time!

The Metabots charged. They might've all been about only 3 feet tall on average, but they packed an insane amount of speed and power as a whole, and demonstrated as much variety in their attacks as Pokémon or even Digimon ever could. Queen X had to double her multiplying speed just to keep pace. Metabee's orange lasers and missile launchers took down a whole row of Space Pirates. Even though he couldn't fly, he was really into it. Grovyle let Rokusho hop on the Jet Star and drove him through a bunch of Honchcrow-X's, slashing every one. Rokusho was so accurate that Grovyle could just focus on absorbing the X Parasites. And Peppercat leapt into the air several times, each time successfully taking down a swarm of Crobat-X's, with her signature electric shock attacks. I could go on and on, but the point was, it got to the point that the Metabots were defeating so many of Queen X's army, my friends and I only had time to fly around and collect all of the X Parasites before they re-formed into other creatures. But we managed to have time to blast Queen X whenever possible, as she was the source of all of this insanity.

But then she became smarter. She unleashed swarms upon swarms of X Parasites again, and this time, she turned them into exact copies of us to confuse us, and the Medabots. Several times, one would attack, say, Big Amy, and she'd say, "OW! Hey, I'm on your side!"

And another copy of Big Amy (actually a Jigglypuff-X) would respond, "No, wait, I'm on your side! She's an X Parasite!" And since the Medabot would be hopelessly confused, the real Big Amy would have to blast and absorb the impostor to convince him. I tried to keep track of the real Queen X, but there were so many clones of her, we ended up fighting for another hour, and we were still no closer to beating her, if that at all. At least all of those X Parasites kept replenishing our energy, allowing us to keep fighting for hours on end.

The tide turned in the most unexpected way. Two capsules, one with green gas, the other with orange gas, were thrown into the chamber from that hole in the ceiling. They exploded and released their gas all over us. My friends and I glowed with a green aura, while one of the Queen X's glowed with an orange aura. The real Queen X. Finally, I could tell who where the important ones here!

"What?" the real Queen X growled. "What is this? Who threw those things in here?"

We soon got our answer. A hologram screen popped up. It was Jumba! "Heh heh heh!" he laughed, holding up a few empty capsule containers. "Queen X, you have been naughty, naughty little girl! I simply couldn't watch while you punish innocent civilians like female carbon-based humanoid part of mosquito food chain."

Queen X paled. Even as we charged right for her and pummeled her as hard as we could, she didn't seem fazed. In fact, she continued to talk. "Jumba Jookiba? Wait. Are you saying that you…?"

"Yes. **I **made you. Part of **very foolish** science experiment, to be exact. Now I know I've made **terrible mistake.** Bye-bye! Oh, and can female carbon-based humanoid part of mosquito food chain hear me? Let her know I cheer her and friends on to correct terrible mistake and save galaxy! Heh heh heh!"

Queen X was seething with fury. "You're lying…you're lying! That's completely impossible! There's no way a lower-life form like you, could've made someone like me! I'm the alpha girl, I'm superior, and I can kill each and every one of you!" Looked like he found her weakness.

"Is true. You were merely **product** of little boy Jumba's mind when he fantasizes taking over whole planets! Heh heh! Do you remember first day when I release you on Planet SR-388? Do you? Do you?"

She paled again. "No way…that little kid all the way back then…that was you?"

"That's right! I, Dr. Jumba Jookiba, am your daddy, and I'm officially authorizing use of **time out!**" With that, the video turned off and disappeared.

That revelation completely broke her, and she stopped resisting any more. Even my friends were shocked. "That was Jumba Jookiba? The guy you met in prison?" gasped Big Amy.

"That's right!" I replied. I brought my biggest energy ball right down on Queen X's head. It was enough to finally defeat her!

She collapsed in an explosion and completely disintegrating, shouting "NOOOOOOOOO!" But we couldn't let our guard down yet. She revealed her true form, the form I remembered seeing when she infected me all that time ago: She became a living conglomerated fusion of a whole mass of Core-X's, complete with spiky outer shells. The Metabots fired immediately, but all of their shots kept bouncing off Queen X's shell.

"Everyone, stop!" I shouted.

Before I could say anything else, Samus added, "Listen to me! Queen X's weak spots are her eyes!" I guessed Samus had already used her Scan Visor on this form of Queen X. Everyone understood; yet remained confused. Queen X didn't even have any eyes in this form, did she?

All we could do was fly away as fast as we could from her monstrous mass while catching any X Parasites that floated out of her, which was easier said than done considering how she almost took up the entirety of the chamber! Finally, we saw it. One of the eyes on one of the Core-X's opened! We shot at it.

"There's another one here!"

"And here!"

"Back here, too!"

After about 20 of those eye-blasting sessions, a massive eye opened up at the top, and I released the energy blast I'd been charging up. As Queen X shuddered in pain, I understood what to do. We had to fire into each eye as they opened up before the big eye at the top opened. Samus then exclaimed, "That's it, Amy! That's the only way to damage it!" Lucky Samus. Her visor could tell when we were actually hurting our enemy and when we weren't.

While we continued, Queen X's massive, spiky bulk ran over many Medabots and crushed those who got wedged into corners, except for the ones who could escape through the bottom. It was really sad, though. I was hoping we wouldn't have any more casualties, but it was so like Queen X to spite me like that, even in her true form. Nevertheless, more Medabots (and even the Welcome Robots and Security Robots) flew in to take their place, some even to carry the injured Medabots out back to their Medafighters.

I have no idea how long it took, maybe 30 minutes, but after 8 more blasting sessions of her true eye, her outer shell finally collapsed. Her insides shrunk down to a huge gelatinous orange pulsating blob. My five friends and I all charged and plowed right into her. "YES!" we shouted. Finally, we could all absorb her and end her threat once and for all!

Except that we couldn't.

Her quivering, gelatinous mass seemed to resist us every which way possible. We kept up the struggle. But right then, I noticed something odd. There was a greenish orb thingy buried deep inside her. Samus managed to scan it and told me, "That thing! Amy, I think that's the way to beat her!" I immediately tried to swim my way toward it, but it was no use. She focused all of her pressure to stop me.

"Guys! Help me out here!" I shouted.

Luckily they did. Big Amy, Chikorita, Grovyle, Kirby, and Samus all backed me up. "All right, on my count! Three…two…one…GO!"

They shoved me in right as I unleashed the charge of energy I've been holding in to propel myself forward. I collided with full force into the green orb thingy and attacked it with everything I had.

Nothing happened…except for an odd ringing sound. "Never…" I heard Queen X growl. "I'll never…let you inferior beings…absorb ME! NEVER!" The ringing sound grew louder and louder. I couldn't stand it anymore and had to cover my ears.

Right then, we heard the announcer outside shout, "And something's coming this way! It's…it's…a whole swarm of them! Everyone move away!"

Queen X laughed and explained to me. Her booming voice sounded like telepathy at this point, probably because she didn't have a mouth anymore. "So someone told you about **my **failsafe system, huh? Get ready to die horribly, inferior beings. All of my subjects are coming back to me now. All of them. Even the ones that I used to conquer that other universe these past four weeks. Muahahahahahaha!"

So the good news was that we'd actually be able to rid the galaxy of X Parasites. The bad news was that, judging by Queen X's evil laughter, they would make her absurdly, astronomically, and obscenely more powerful than ever before.

* * *

_It's very true. From above Capital Planet Earth, an interdimensional portal opens. A huge swarm of thousands—millions—of X Parasites comes through. All around Gaijin City, the fake versions of our six heroes suddenly decompose back to X Parasite form and fly to the Galactic Federation building. On Planet Portania, the X Parasites trying to copy Arceus and Dusknoir immediately leave their hosts and come flying, being automatically transported through a wormhole. Same thing for the X Parasites on the Space Pirate Homeworld. But most importantly of all, on Planet SR-388, all X Parasites, no matter what form they're in, abandon whatever form they were copying and head toward the same point in the atmosphere, where Queen X reopened a portal._

_

* * *

_

The swarms burst in from the ceiling, the door, a portal leading to SR-388 that suddenly materialized on the wall in front of the High Council seats, and three other places I didn't suspect. We had no choice. "Guys! Try not to let any of them reach Queen X!" I shouted, pushing myself out of her gelatinous mass. The six of us threw ourselves in the way of the different streams. I took the biggest stream, the one from the top, and spread my wings as far as I could to catch them all. All the Medabots in the room watched with anticipation and held their fire, waiting to see if their assistance would be needed further.

Who were we kidding?

No matter how many X Parasites I absorbed, more always seemed to slip past my grasp and merge with Queen X. I could feel a rush of energy, the biggest energy boost I've ever received. I was absolutely glowing! I was overflowing with so much energy in my arms, my legs, my wings, everywhere…I wondered if I would go into hypermode or something. Luckily, that never seemed to happen, though it felt like if I didn't unleash all that energy at once, and fast, I'd explode.

As it turned out, Queen X used all of her subjects to regenerate her outer shell, her complex superstructure, and finally, her previous physical form. The six of us unleashed all of our extra energy on her, and it looked like we hit her square on.

Then we found that she actually split herself up into 50 perfect copies or so, like Dark Samus, except 10 times better. EVE and the Medabots went into action again. I groaned when I found that we had to start all over again.

The second time around was much harder. Not only was Queen X stronger, she became much, much smarter. First, she unleashed a swarm of X Parasites that formed themselves into…people. That is, people with white lab coats. Samus gasped, "It's those researchers!" and I immediately realized that they were those same people that the X Parasites killed on the BSL Research Station. The only reason they were infected in the first place was so the X Parasites could gather information, so why the heck was Queen X sending them out into this kind of battle?

We quickly realized the horrifying answer.

Sure, Samus and I had no problem going to town on these people, and neither did our friends. But every single Medabot in the chamber suddenly froze. Even if they pointed their blasters at the Researcher-X's, something seemed to paralyze their shots. Not even Rokusho seemed to be able to swing his Chanbara Sword at all. And unless my ears were fooling me, we could hear…warning bleeps from them.

Queen X smirked in triumph, "Ah-HA! Just as I thought. You may be Medabots, but you all still follow the Laws of Robotics. Remember Law #1? 'A robot must never injure a **human being'**."

"No way…" I gasped.

"Hey! No fair! What about us?" shouted Chikorita.

She stared at my Pokémon friends as if they were total idiots. "You're Pokémon. You aren't nearly as fragile as human beings. So you don't count. Suckers!" She spat at them and unleashed a new wave of X Parasites, but this time, all of them turned into copies of me.

I continued to blast Queen X, but I noticed that Big Amy and Chikorita were much more reluctant and kept flying away, trying to avoid actually attacking my imposters. But Grovyle had it the worst; after he attacked just one time, he stood absolutely still and just stared in petrified horror.

"Grovyle! What are you doing?" I shouted at him. "The real me is the one with wings, remember? I'm right here!"

I don't think he heard me at all.

One of the Me-X's staggered back and screamed at him, "How could you DO this to me, you murderer? My dad told me that true friends never hurt each other! NEVER!"

Hearing my lines stolen like that…and seeing the absolutely anguished look on Grovyle's face…made something inside me snap. Hard. "Oh, for crying out LOUD!" I exclaimed. I zoomed down there and angrily unleashed an explosion of light energy at my impostors, absorbing them all in the process. I was so furious that I completely forgot about Queen X until it was too late.

Flashes of Ice Beams filled my ears, and the pain of a thousand ice arrows stabbed around my body. I barely had time to scream before the air solidified around me and trapped me in an irregularly-shaped mound of pure ice. I couldn't move. I wasn't even sure if I could breathe. And to my horror, all my friends were trapped inside, too. Even Samus. But at least they had air holes.

"Sorry, guys…there were too many of them for me to handle alone," gasped Samus.

"D—d—don't you h—h—have any w—w—weaknesses at all?" chattered Chikorita in desperation.

"No…" she replied. "None. Except this…and that was after they infected me…"

"L—l—like that S—S—Spiritomb guy…" noted Big Amy in dismay. "N—n—no fair…"

Outside, I saw what they were talking about; where the Ice Beams came from: a whole army of SA-X's, perfect clones of Samus. They began to surround us. Queen X glowered at us, "I wonder why it took me this long to think of this, hm? Oh yeah. So you'd think you'd actually have a chance. New flash, Metroid brats. You never did. I can make as many copies of the most powerful bounty hunter in the galaxy as I want!" She then smiled at me and continued, "Amy [you know who]…remember that movie Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones? Well guess what. This time, I have the clones…and you've got the droids. You know who won that one." She gestured at all of the hopelessly paralyzed Medabots for emphasis.

Every single one of the SA-X's raised their Arm Cannons and opened up the Missile Chambers. My heart nearly leapt into my throat when I realized what they were about to do. Queen X gloated, "That's right, inferior being. You know the quickest way to kill a Metroid. Now you shall all know how they felt. Too bad you can't say anything anymore. Muahahahahaha!"

I shut my eyes and braced myself. Not even Samus could blast herself out of this one. The SA-X's would unleash their Super Missiles, shattering the ice…and our bodies along with it.

Right then, four bright lights filled the chamber, distracting the SA-X's and nearly blinding us. I gasped in disbelief. Metabee glowed with an orange light, Rokusho glowed with a blue light, Arcbeetle glowed with a red light, and a yellow aura surrounded Warbandit. The four Medabots with the rare Medals necessary for such abilities positioned themselves against each corner of the chamber and aimed at Queen X and her SA-X army. Could it be…? Could it be…?

Queen X completely lost her composure, and froze in place. "No way…impossible! Y—you all can't—NO—!" It never occurred to her that she could simply fly out of the way.

"MEDAFOOOOORCE!" the four Medabots shouted as they unleashed four massive energy blasts at Queen X and the SA-X army. The heat from their blasts was enough to melt the ice we were encased in, too. I remembered the Medaforce. Only those four Medabots, with those four Rare Medals (golden hexagonal "souls" for Medabots that came from ancient times) were capable of a high-energy attack known as the Medaforce. I groaned when I remembered how I made a fool of myself in 6th grade in a game of kickball thinking that the Medaforce would allow me to kick the ball all the way to the woods. Instead, I got tagged out before I even reached first base. But this was no joke. This was for real. It took a delay of seven long, lonely years…but the Medaforce finally came to save my butt for the first time.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Queen X screeched for the second time that day as she disintegrated back into that massive multiple Core-X that was her true form. Finally, we beat her…again!

We were all stunned. We thought the Medabots couldn't attack anyone looking like a human, not even Queen X. Rokusho explained, "You happen to forget the second law. A robot may not injure a human being…**or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.**" Looking back on it, I wondered how that was possible since it conflicted with the first law, but I eventually guessed the four of them finally managed to figure out that X Parasite copied people didn't count as human beings.

Samus slapped her forehead and exclaimed, "Of course…!"

"Thanks, guys…!" I could only gasp in gratitude.

My friends and I then sped around the room reabsorbing the flying X Parasites while the Medabot army focused their attention on the multiple Core-X mass that was Queen X. Once again, we helped them shoot the eyes in the correct sequence in order to shoot out the big eye at the top. Once again, it took another 30 minutes. Actually, 45, since we now had to shoot 30 eyes in a row before revealing her weak spot, and she only kept it open half of the time.

Finally, her true X Parasite form was revealed once more. We charged and tried to absorb her once more. There were no more green orbs inside of her, so we thought we could do it again…but as it turned out, she was even harder to absorb her this time. She zapped us with an electric field on her surface!

"I don't get it! Why can't we absorb her?" shouted Chikorita in dismay.

Queen X growled, "NEVER! I'll never let you! EVER!" and zapped us again. She was even stronger than before.

Samus quickly ran the Scan Visor over Queen X and explained to us, "All of those X Parasites made her too powerful! Even all of us combined only have few strands of Metroid DNA! I remember this—it was just like when I fought the SA-X. I beat her, but I couldn't absorb her until an Omega Metroid came and defeated her for me! Guys, we don't have any choice! Only a 100% real Metroid has any chance of stopping her now!"

We all hung onto Queen X, and I spread my wings all over her to keep her from moving too far. She writhed and squirmed and sent jolts of energy through us, but we never let go.

Meanwhile, seeing that they could do nothing more to help, most of the Medabots followed their Medafighters' orders to retreat out of there. EVE and WALL-E helped to escort the ones with injured legs, and even those whose functions had ceased entirely. Some, though, like Metabee and Rokusho, decided to stay, just in case Queen X tried something again.

Kirby complained, "But you said awl the Metwoids are gone!"

"Yeah! What are we supposed to do now?" added Grovyle.

Samus pulled out the thing that made us all gasp: Essence Sight's stone circle with ancient writing. She explained, "We have to repeat what they did. We have to bring the Metroids back to life. And according to the Law of Equivalent Exchange…one of us has to go."

Big Amy, Chikorita, Grovyle, and Kirby gasped. They all looked in my direction. I looked around recognized the exact scene from that Dimensional Scream. We were here, at the Galactic Federation, with the stone circle placed on top of Queen X to keep her from flying away. Kirby and my Pokémon friends had already docked their Air Ride Machines around the edges of the circle. It was just as Kel-Zich had predicted. It would be me.

And right then, I understood everything. I knew it would come to this all along. I knew there had to be no choice. Maybe it was destiny, or maybe it was some kind of freaky sick failsafe system of my universe, but whatever it was…it was just like the climax of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time. Just like Sherlotta, I suddenly realized everything that had to be done. Ha. Echoes of Time…Echoes of Time…Didn't I call Team Pecha's previous adventures Amy, Chikorita, and the Echoes of Time? Something told me that everything was coming full circle right then.

"You're weaving? Pwease don't weave us…pwease…" groaned Kirby.

Chikorita burst into tears. "I meant what I said before! I always knew you were a good person inside…and truly good people are way too hard to find for me. Please…don't go, Amy! I never would've gotten this far without you, I swear! If you really wanted a happy ending for us…you…" She paused and sniffed. "I thought we told our story so nothing like this would ever happen again. You know our story way better than either of us ever could! And yet, you…I don't know I don't know if I can take this pain again! I've lost my Amy once…I can't lose another! Not again! I just can't!"

So did Grovyle. "I'm sorry I ever doubted you. Just don't do this to me, please…"

"But, Grovyle…don't you know how I feel? You were willing to give up your life to save the future. You yourself said that you'd rather live a short life doing the right thing. I…I've always wished…I could—"

"But it's NOT FAIR! You never had anything to do with this…! I know I had to do this once too…but somehow…I don't want…" He then shouted at me, "Don't you get it, Amy? I love you! I always did! Just not the way Gandrayda thinks. You, my Amy, Chikorita, Celebi, Samus, Kirby…all of you! But **you** most of all! Funny, isn't it? I realized this just now. And now you're…you're…" He slammed his fist on the stone tablet in agony. "Why does this always happen to me?"

"He's right," agreed Samus. "You really don't have to go this far for me. For us. I'm sorry I thought you were nothing but a lazy good-for-nothing civilian. You already gave me the first birthday party I've ever had! You taught me not to judge people that quickly…that friends are worth having…and worth fighting for. If you die…won't you be contradicting everything you've ever taught?"

Finally, Big Amy bounced right up and gripped me on the neck, hugging me as tightly as she could. "Little Amy! D—didn't we promise to be best friends forever? Don't you want to go home? Do you really have to make the same sacrifice that I did? I mean, you have a choice this time, right? Chikorita and I almost made a mistake with Darkrai, remember? How do you know…this isn't a mistake? I…I never even sang that song I made for you…" She sobbed uncontrollably again.

I patted her on the back and whispered, "Amy, Amy…You can feel it too, can you? When Kel-Zich said we were one and the same…I think…I now know what he meant. All this time, there was meant to be just one Amy, and one Amy only. And I already chose who should live. You. You're the true Amy in this universe. You always have been."

I then addressed them all, starting with Samus. "Samus. In my home dimension, your story is a tragic one. It doesn't have a happy ending yet…and maybe it never will. When I swore to you that I would do whatever it took to get your career back…I didn't mean just that. I also promised that I would do whatever it took to give you a happy ending. Samus. I want to give you a chance to see that baby Metroid again. I want you to know what true happiness is like. I think you've been denied it for way too long. I always have…ever since I was 11 years old."

Then to Kirby. "Kirby…Look after the true Amy for me. I know you two were always meant to be best friends." Then to Chikorita. "Chikorita. I know. It kills me inside to put you through this again…but I promise you. I'll make things right for you. I'll make sure you and your friends live happily ever after, so no one would ever go through this again. I'll make sure you have the family you've always wanted."

Then Grovyle. "I think I know what you mean, Grovyle. I love all of you too. I always have. That's what Celebi and Gandrayda really wanted to tell us. Pure love…is the best in the world. It doesn't have to be romance. I'm sorry I didn't see it sooner. I know it's not fair that I have to leave right when we all love each other the most…but like you said, this is something I live for. To make things right again."

And finally, I stood up and addressed them all. "Guys? I'm really glad I met you all. I don't regret a second of it. I really don't. You guys proved you were way more than just figments of my imagination. You proved that you all were real friends. And that's why I know that…this is the right thing to do."

Queen X replied smugly from beneath us, "Ha! Even if I go, at least I'll be taking you with me, inferior being! You **do** know that you're sacrificing yourself for another energy-sucking parasite, right?"

"Shut up! You're ruining the moment!" we shouted at her, gripping her even harder.

Big Amy stared at the center of the circle and remarked, "…I'll have to give up my Dimensional Scream—no, my Echoes of Time power too…right?"

"Yeah. I think you understand now." I placed her down. Finally, I decided to use the same last words that Big Amy said to Chikorita. It felt so right for the moment. "Seriously, though…Thanks for being my best friends. I loved the times we played…the times we explored…the times you all stuck by me no matter what. You all taught me what made life worth living. My life was too short, but…I wouldn't have traded any second of it for anything in this universe or any other. Speaking of which, I'm the Master of this Universe, remember? I know this is the only way to make things right again. I know it."

Samus started the process. As the Metroid DNA flowed out through her arms into the stone circle, I was worried that it would make her vulnerable to Queen X again, but it didn't seem like an issue, as the stone tablet itself seemed to be repelling Queen X by itself. We had to hold the tablet up in the air with our Air Ride Machines to keep it from falling down. Next was Kirby, and his Jigglypuff ears vanished into a glow of green energy that flowed to join the buildup of green energy in the center. Then Chikorita, then Grovyle, and finally, Big Amy. Just like in my vision, she was the one who ended up glowing the brightest.

The Dimensional Scream—no, the Echoes of Time, huh? Seeing her sacrifice its power got me to thinking. Who knew that the result of a bunch of evil genius scientists' work could actually end up saving the future of an entire planet? If I remembered correctly, she could even use it to talk with Grovyle and Celebi in the future…but that was only assuming that she and Chikorita would be stuck in the past the whole time, just like in the games. But thanks to Queen X's efforts, they ended up seeing him again, and if she gives up her powers entirely (even though she's almost never needed it anymore)…it'll be too sad if they have to go. If only I could allow them to live together somehow…

And that was when I somehow felt that the only way to solve everything...would be if I had to go.

"But before you go, Amy…I'd like you…to hear this," whispered Big Amy.

"I'm listening," I replied. Was she about to sing?

She was.

_Every night in my dreams, I see you…I feel you…  
That is how I know you go on…  
Far across the distance and spaces between us,  
You have come to show you go on…_

_As we go on…we remember…  
All the times we've…had together…  
And as our lives change…come whatever…  
We will still be…friends forever…_

_Near…far…wherever you are…  
I believe that the heart does go on…  
Once…more…you open the door,  
And you're here in my heart and, we'll go on forevermore…_

_As we go on…we remember…  
All the times we've…had together…  
And as our lives change…come whatever…  
We will still be…friends forever…_

_You're…here…there's nothing I fear…  
And I know that we'll remember you…  
We'll…stay…forever this way…  
You are safe in my heart and, we'll go on forevermore…_

Wow…such a beautiful song! No wonder she could never sing it before. Only for situations like these could she ever sing so beautifully. I was surprised at how well both songs meshed together, like a heartsong from Happy Feet, but it convinced me that maybe…just maybe…we were one and the same. I knew all the lyrics, too. I remembered listening to both songs over and over again the day before I went on this crazy adventure. So I sang along with her, and for a second, it felt like our voices sounded the exact same. I didn't know how she knew the famous theme from Titanic or that Friends Forever song, but it convinced me that maybe…just maybe…we were one and the same. [And best of all? They were songs I was confident that many, many people would know the tune this time.]

I stepped onto the center of the plate. I'll admit I was worried as to how much it would hurt, or how it would go, or how long it would take, but as the green light began to envelop me, it didn't burn or sear or even feel painful at all. It was…warm. Maybe that was why Ray of Hope didn't seem so scared when he sacrificed himself. Ray of Hope…Ray…Like Ray the Cajun Firefly from The Princess and the Frog. Why'd I think of him now? I guess maybe the two guys weren't so different after all. I guess it wouldn't be too bad to go out honorably for a noble cause, like them.

I looked at each of my friends in turn, and suddenly remembered several famous lines I wanted to say before my time was up. They were the perfect lines for assuaging their fears…and I believed in every one of them.

"I'll…be…right here," I whispered, pointing to my heart.

Chikorita sniffed and whispered back, "I'm gonna miss you, Little Amy…! We all will!"

"And I'll miss you. All of you. Keep me close…in your dreams." YES! I've always wanted those to be my last words. E.T. and Entei really knew how to say goodbye.

The green light changed to a brilliant gold and filled the entire Galactic Federation chamber, exploding out of the stone circlet. It washed over my whole body…and I floated into it with no more fear at all. Goodbye, everyone…goodbye.

To be continued…

**Coming up next: Everything comes full circle at last. All questions answered, all truths revealed…all for the sake of the rebirth of the most magical creature in the galaxy. Amy Vee Purima and I are truly…**One and the Same**.**


	31. One and the Same

Chapter 33: One and the Same

The light cleared.

I could still see the entirety of the Galactic Federation chamber. All the seats on the sides were still empty. I was confused. Wasn't I supposed to have died? What was going on in here?

I looked down. There were my five friends, all with tears streaming down their cheeks. Samus, Kirby, Chikorita, Grovyle, and Big Amy were still holding the stone circle in midair with the help of their jetpacks/Air Ride Machines. In the center of the circle was a mass of bright green cells, rapidly multiplying and growing faster and faster by the second. Below them in the pit floated the brightly glowing orange gelatinous blob that was Queen X. Was she starting to move again?

I looked all around. There were still those two-way hologram newscasting screens that allowed the crowds outside to peer in. It was absolute silence. Many were silently crying. Others had no idea what was happening. Then one pointed and gasped downward. I looked and saw that to my horror, Queen X floated up to my friends and aimed herself right at them, about to infect them all! They were still crying and trying to honor my memory to realize the danger. If only I could stop Queen X…! _NOOOOO!_ I tried to shout.

And right then… I somehow managed to tackle Queen X and stop her in her place. Even though I was already supposed to be dead.

"Impossible!" gasped Queen X.

"Little Amy? You're a g—g—g—g—g—GHOST!" stammered a really freaked-out Chikorita.

_No way! I can't be a ghost!_ But then I thought it over a bit. _Well, jeez, I dunno. Maybe I am._

Kirby looked up and pointed at me, shouting, "It's Dwawcia! It's Dwawcia! Amy became Dwawcia!"

Drawcia? Did he mean Drawcia from Kirby: Canvas Curse? That witch who turned him into a ball? I then remembered that there were two forms Drawcia could take: Her normal form…and her soul.

…Her soul!

_Guys! Guys! I'm a soul? I still exist? Like Drawcia?_ I shouted out at them. It only came out as mere telepathy, unfortunately.

But it seemed like they could hear me just fine. "Whoooaa…you are one weird drippy rainbow-colored ball!" commented Big Amy.

_Uh…out of curiosity, how many eyes do I have?_ I asked.

"Five," answered Grovyle and Samus at the same time.

_Whoa. It doesn't feel like I have five eyes at all,_ I remarked.

Samus then finished scanning me with her Scan Visor and replied, "I don't get it…you're morphology is even more powerful than a Chozo Ghost's. No normal being's soul should ever be that solid or that powerful." She shrugged. "Maybe you ARE the Master of this Universe after all."

"NO!" screeched Queen X in a similarly telepathetic way. "I'm the Master of this Universe! Not this inferior being! NEVER!"

I gasped. _Maybe THAT'S why we can't beat you yet! Well, let me tell you something, Queen X! You can copy my memories, my abilities, even what I look like…but you can never copy my soul! OR anyone else's! NEVER!_

Samus smiled and gave me a thumbs-up. After all, she remembered how it was her line from Metroid Fusion. Queen X and I fought. I shoved her back and did everything I could to keep her from reaching my friends and infecting them. I couldn't let up until the baby Metroid was fully formed. The one who would become the new Queen Metroid. If I remembered correctly—

"Samus! How long is this supposed to take?" asked Grovyle.

She scanned the rapidly growing mass of cells and replied, "When the Chozo made the first Metroid ever, it took about 11 years."

"ELEVEN years? We don't have that much time!" shouted Big Amy in desperation.

"I know. But wait. I think that thanks to all of your Metroid DNA…and that Dimensional Scream power thingy of yours, Amy…the growth process has been increased by a factor of…1124.03. Wow."

"Shouldn't we get out of here? Like, now?" asked Chikorita, nervously eyeing the quivering Queen X locked in amorphous combat with me.

"Oh yeah, good point. We don't have Metroid DNA anymore." Samus led the others and helped them place the circular disc on the High Council's platform. Then they flew out through the hole in the ceiling and assisted the people outside in sealing off the entire room so Queen X couldn't escape.

That left me free to wrestle with the restless Queen X. I couldn't let her get away though a hidden crack I didn't know about. _Sealed in, huh? Reminds me of how you tried to lock me into this dimension._ I shot at her.

She nastily replied, "Think you're so clever, huh? I still have a chance of beating you, inferior being. All I have to do I smash that magic circle or whatever the heck that resurrection device is, and all your hard work will be for nothing."

_Like that'll ever happen._

I can honestly say that the next 30 minutes was when the real final battle was. We crashed and smashed into each other, and neither of us ever got tired. Finally, we heard a loud, "SCREEE!" sound from behind us.

It was the baby Metroid.

She was only about 1 foot tall (four inches bigger than Kirby, but only 1/3 the size of a fully-grown Metroid), but she still looked very much like an ordinary Metroid. She had a greenish gelatinous membrane shell that was pretty much opaque (instead of translucent), two pincers, and two energy-sucking teeth. At least her levitation ability was the most adept. Following her deep-seated natural instincts, she spotted Queen X and made a beeline right towards her.

Queen X panicked and flew around the room, hoping for a way out. The little Metroid chased her around. I tried to stop Queen X, but she was unusually fast.

She tried one last effort to dissuade me. "Fine then, inferior being! I can't believe you actually sacrificed your body to bring back these bloodsucking, civilization-decimating creatures! You think us X Parasites are worse than these abominable Metroids? You have no idea what you're unleashing on this galaxy. I hope your friends will be thown in galactic prison for the rest of their miserable lives."

I finally caught her and replied, _We already know from history how bad the Metroids were. But that was all a mistake. It was never meant to happen. You know as well as I that the Chozo made the Metroids specifically to stop you! They knew you'd conquer the galaxy like this! So enough of this "We can bring true peace to the galaxy" nonsense, you liar!_

"I never knew you'd be the murdering type, little-goody-two-shoes."

_I'm not fighting for revenge. I'm fighting so we can all finally be free forever!_

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" shouted Queen X. The little Metroid plowed right into her…and sucked her dry, slowly and excruciatingly. Just like how Queen X wanted me to die. It was the end of Queen X, the end of the X Parasite Empire…and the end of the Clone War, at long last.

Right then, Samus and my friends burst back in. So did the rest of the Galactic Federation alien diplomats, one by one. After the little Metroid finished eating (or drinking?) all of Queen X, she turned around…and saw Samus. And then to my surprise, she spoke.

"…Mama?" It was still telepathy, but I was surprised to hear her at all. I thought Metroids couldn't talk.

"…Little Metroid?" I could feel it. This was shaping out to be exactly like the same heartwarming scene between Team Pecha and Grovyle.

"Mama! Is you! Is you!" She floated right to Samus, and Samus flew with her jetpack to her.

"I'm sorry I never got to tell you all this time, Little Metroid, but…thank you! Thank you for saving my life back then! Remember? You saved me from Mother Brain AND the X Parasites! Really, thank you, thank you!"

"Mama…don't cry, Mama…"

_Aw…_ I sniffed. _You see, Samus? This is everything I've been working for. This was all that made it worthwhile. If it wasn't for me…Sporis here wouldn't never been brought back to life. All this time…she lived in you, Samus. She lived in you._

Samus looked up and was confused. "Sporis? SHE?"

_That's her name. She's going to be the future Queen Metroid, remember? Besides, don't you think that's a good name? It suits you guys. Sporis, and Samus. See?_

"Sporis…Samus…" she whispered, testing it out. She blinked away tears and concluded, "Yeah…that is a good name. No wonder you're the Master of this Universe. You sacrificed yourself for her…so I guess it's only fair that you'd get to name her. Oh, Sporis…I promise I won't let anything hurt you ever again. I promise."

I'd already decided that Sporis would be a good name for her when I was only 11, back when I was still desperately thinking of ways to bring the little Metroid back to life. I actually derived the name Sporis from Sporos, a character from Madeleine L'Engle's famous novel A Wind in the Door. For some reason, it sounded so…right.

Big Amy, Chikorita, and Grovyle turned around to get a good look at Sporis. Their jaws were dropping in shock, and maybe the slightest hint of revulsion. Grovyle uttered, "**That's **a Metroid? That's what all of this fuss is about? I dunno…I always thought they'd be more, y'know…like one of the good guys. Samus, are you sure it's okay for you to hug it like that?"

Samus swiftly replied, "HER, Grovyle. It's okay to hug her." She paused and let Sporis float for a few seconds in front of herself. "Wait…yeah, I just noticed! She's not biting on anyone's heads!"

_Of course she isn't! Didn't you see how she sucked Queen X like that? Sporis probably won't even have to eat for months! You'll have plenty of time to figure out other ways to feed her, Samus! _I explained.

"You right, Miss floaty soully thingy!" chirped Sporis. "Me full! Me no bite nice people's heads! Me remember Mama reeeeeaaally good!" I smiled. I believed her. I mean, I knew that soon after they're born, Metroids think that the first being they ever see is their mama. Seeing as how Queen X and I were the first beings Sporis saw and yet she still remembered Samus was proof that she was still alive all this time. And that made me beyond happy. I finally did the right thing.

As I watched my Pokémon friends and Kirby play with Sporis, I then felt myself glowing yellow and disappearing, and I was saddened. Would I finally have to go at last? _Everyone…?_ They all turned to me. _I think I have to go now. _

Big Amy ran right up to me and tried to hug me. "Oh, Little Amy…I wish you wouldn't have to! I wish you could stay with us, forever!"

Right then, I felt several odd sensations at once. Like that same odd sensations I felt when Zoroark first pulled me into this dimension and when he pulled me into this future. I was also reminded of the same feeling I felt during the Starfall Festival. Could it be…? _You know what, Amy? When they said we were one and the same…maybe they meant it literally. Maybe, because I'm the Master of the Universe…I CAN be with you guys._

She stared at me in awe and wonder. "Amy…What do you mean?"

I shrugged, or at least tried to. _At least, that's what it feels like. We'll see for ourselves._

And right then, my soul evaporated into a field of glowing yellow lights.

* * *

I was falling through what looked like the time tunnel and a wormhole at the same time. Like a flume ride from the Pendragon series, stars streaked by me at the speed of light, and images from every planet from every time period whirled past me. As the ride flew by faster and faster, I felt another familiar sensation, this time that of the Dimensional Scream. Did Big Amy use up the rest of her Dimensional Scream—I mean, Echoes of Time—power to send me on like this?

Finally, I emerged out onto a familiar sight. It was the Starfall Festival again! But this time, I was amongst the falling stars, and though they looked like comets crashing to the planet below in the form of meteors on the outside, I could feel energy and vitality radiating from every one of them. I gasped. The Chozo's ancient legends were right! These all were souls!

I looked down onto the planet below. It wasn't Planet Chozodia, or anywhere unknown, for that matter. It was Capital Planet Earth. More specifically, Gaijin City.

Roy and Jean Purima.

A flood of memories sped through my mind. Crawling aboard the G.F.S. Axiatomic Link. Meeting little Treecko. Learning everything in the dark future of Planet Portania. Drawing on the cave walls—a lot. The horrible execution. The very first Dimensional Scream I ever experienced. The Planetary Exploration Team. Grovyle and I venturing across the broken-up islands of the planet. Battling…escaping…going forward with a single purpose in life. Meeting everyone in Quartzite Cave. Re-discovering my love for Jigglypuff. Finally, falling through the time tunnel, saving Grovyle from Darkrai's attacks, falling into the sea, turning into a Jigglypuff…and losing my memories.

A beautiful sunset on a beach. Chikorita. Meeting Master Wigglytuff and forming an exploration team. Team Skull, the meanie-butts. Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf. Meeting Dusknoir, then Grovyle. Realizing that the only reason that Amy Purima—me!—had even suspected something was wrong was because I already knew who was good and who was bad, but only subconsciously. Dusknoir dragging us to the dark future world. Teaming up with Grovyle to get out of there. Grovyle revealing the truth. Riding on Lapras' back to the Hidden Land. Losing Grovyle in the Hidden Land to Dusknoir, maybe forever. The final battle with Primal Dialga, where I sang a song for the very first time. Disappearing into the vast recesses of time.

Then reappearing on the beach again, realizing Dialga saved me. A tearful reunion and the reassurance that Grovyle and Dusknoir and Celebi were still alive. Several months of adventures. Graduation. The Pecha Berry house. The nightmares. Darkrai's wicked plot and revelations to me. We beat him. Palkia blasting him as he escaped through the Dimensional Hole. Cheers and congratulations from the Pokémon in Treasure Town. The Echoes of Time.

Another year of adventures. Dancing with Ludicoolaid Man. Meeting with Team Charm to investigate the new alien invader. Finding it was Samus Aran. Stowing away for adventure. Playing around the ship for an hour.

Then…

Me.

From the past.

She teaching me and Chikorita about Earth. Meeting her—my!—family. Going to the future. Meeting Grovyle again. Arriving in Gaijin City. Learning—arrgh—how to be human. The secret base. The Pokéathlon Contest. I lost badly to that Typhlosion. Drawing the best picture of all. Victory. Teh Pirates Who Don't Do Nothin'. Me being shocked at those revelations. Axiatomic Link, again. Captured. Going through my past memories. They suddenly become completely unlocked. We escape. We fight Ridley. We see Queen X for the first time. We escape again. Samus kicking us out. Me and Chikorita rescuing my past self from those Pokémon. Grovyle…we couldn't trust him anymore. Or Dusknoir. Then Queen X infected us.

We woke up. We spent the night at Old Bird's house, hoping for their safe return. Revelations that night. Four weeks of training. We wanted to be best friends forever. Our final test. We passed. Then…the battles with Queen X. Torture. Going back to Planet Portania. Seeing Arceus and Dusknoir die. Being framed and thrown in prison in Gaijin City. The unfair trial and escape from execution. The final battle. Us sad to see her soul disappear forever. And then…

* * *

Samus set the stone circlet down, and my friends all surrounded it. "Amy [you know who] was…the best friend we've ever had. If it weren't for her, we never would've been able to defeat Queen X and save the galaxy from the X Parasites. I never would've gotten to see Sporis again. And…we never would've become friends."

"Let's never forget her," mumbled Grovyle.

"Never forget," repeated Kirby.

That was the scene I found myself in. I was right there. I could barely believe it. I looked down at my arms. Yep, pink stubby ones. I quickly looked around. Chikorita, Grovyle, Kirby, Samus, and Sporis were closest to me, now towering over me. The alien diplomats were still filing in. The entire chamber of the Galactic Federation suddenly seemed to glow with golden light, and I could make out the bright colors of the great blue symbol on the walls. It was just like in Leroy and Stitch. I looked down at myself in the reflective surface of the High Council chamber. Just as I thought.

I was a Jigglypuff again. More specifically, I was Amy Vee Purima. Permanently.

They all were stuck in the depths of sorrow. I was dismayed. Chikorita walked up and nudged me. "Hey! Big Amy? Why aren't you saying anything? Wasn't she your best friend too?"

I had to let them know the truth at once. I blurted out, "GUYS! I'm right here!"

They all stared at me like I'd grown five extra eyes. Finally, Grovyle walked right up to me and patted my head in a consoling manner. "Now, now…Thanks for trying to cheer us up. I know how much she meant to you. To all of us. You two were so similar, you were practically one and the same."

Chikorita nodded, "He's right, Big Amy. So stop trying to pretend to be her. You're only making it…worse—"

I was furious. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" I screeched. "I'm not Big Amy! I'm Little Amy—no, wait, I'm the true Amy! I just figured it out now! Amy Purima was me in the future! My soul—just now—went to the past to the day Amy Purima was born, and now she—I mean, I—remember everything! Maybe I didn't want her to remember until now because that would've messed up the story from my Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games—and so—!"

They continued to stare at me like I had five extra eyes. Grovyle shook his head and huffed, "No. If you were her in the future, you'd remember everything that ever happened in her life, and—"

Right then, we heard moaning and groaning from the far end of the High Council walkway. It was Zoroark, Darkrai, Zark, and Zork. They were all somehow stuffed underneath the counters, and some of them hit their heads, but they eventually crawled out. Our jaws dropped in awe. I could only point and stammer incoherently, "Wha—wha—how did—I mean—I thought Queen X—"

"What about Queen X? I mean, where is she, anyway? I'm gonna kill her," muttered Zoroark.

"Me ate her! Me ate her! Yum yum yum!" chirped Sporis, bouncing up and down.

The four baddies then looked in our direction. "A Metroid? With teh n00bs? Whooooaaa…" exclaimed Zark and Zork simultaneously. Zoroark looked conflicted. One part of him probably wanted to kill Sporis, but another part of him seemed to be ordering him not to, since Queen X betrayed him. Darkrai just went, "Huuuuh…?" not understanding a single thing.

Finally, Zoroark noticed us. "Hey, why are you guys here? I thought Queen X sent you guys to get executed. And where's that Amy [you know who], anyway? Let me guess. She bit the dust helping you guys escape from that asteroid prison."

Samus explained, "Actually…she sacrificed herself so this little Metroid could be brought back to life and defeat Queen X once and for all," while pointing to Sporis.

"THAT'S NOT TRUE! I'M RIGHT HERE!" I shouted, jumping up and down and pointing to myself.

One second, Zark and Zork were standing all the way over there, the next, they had already crossed that distance and were shoving my mouth open, shouting, "Yo! L33t Universe Master! U in dere?"

"OMG, Wii can't believe u actually 8 her, Puffball n00b! Hang in dere!" added Zork.

"Yeh, Wii need 2 thank u 4 totally pwning dat Queen 4 us! Wii're comin' 2 get u!"

I mumbled, "Getcher handsh…ou' o' ma'…moufh!" and kicked them as hard as I could. They crashed into Zoroark and Darkrai. Then what they just said registered in my head. "Wait. What? You're not mad at me for beating Queen X?" I asked in disbelief.

" 'Course not, n00b," shot Zark. "She wuz WAY 2 l33t 4 us!"

"She haxored our whole planet…blew up all teh l33t warships…& sed Wii had 2 follow every 1 of her orders…or else she'd kill every1!" complained Zork.

"Yes, pleeze heer us, l33t Universe Master! Thank u Thank u Thank u! Now, if only sum1 could fix our planet 4 us…aw, who r Wii kiddin'? Teh Feds h8 us! No 1's gonna help us in a bajillion yeers!" sighed Zark.

"They sound so sad…" remarked Darkrai.

Zoroark quickly suggested to him, "Darkrai, they're Zark and Zork, some good friends of mine. They're Space Pirates, and they're good people. Why don't we help them out?"

"Okay…?"

Meanwhile, Chikorita was shocked. "Darkrai? What the heck is he doing here?" she exclaimed.

I finally lost my patience. "EVERYONE SHUT UP! Grovyle, let me explain! Chikorita, remember when Darkrai tried to escape through a Dimensional Hole, and Palkia attacked him? Not only did he lose his memory…he ended up right here! While you guys were getting the Air Ride Machines and Adam back, I saw him fall out right through that spot!" I pointed at the wall where Queen X previously opened up a portal to SR-388. "What I'm not sure is why all of you guys are alive all of a sudden. I thought Queen X infected you all."

"I believe I shall explain."

Right then, a portal opened atop the seats on the right side. Out of it came, in single file: Kel-Zich, Old Bird, Gray Voice, Platinum Chest, Essence Sight, Voices in the Stars, Shining Flame, Gandrayda, Celebi, and every single Chozo villager from Yamamori Village. Guess they decided to use their warp gate again. They activated floating platforms that four people could stand on at a time. Wow. They really knew how to use Galactic Federation technology.

Kel-Zich floated up to us (he didn't need a platform) and explained, "I can now say with certainty that Amy Vee Purima is Amy [you know who] in the future. That is why their souls were exactly the same. Apparently, her wish to stay with you all was extraordinarily powerful, and despite the fact that she was the Master of this Universe, her soul gained enough power to grant her that wish **only when it was exposed.** So her soul ended up choosing the one she wished to become most. I suspected that was the case all along. Now that it has come to pass, and Queen X is vanquished, her temporal and dimensional barriers have all been removed. The balance of the universe has been restored at last."

I slapped my forehead. "Of course…!" After all, Jigglypuff was still my most favorite Pokémon ever. Amy Purima never aged when she was a Jigglypuff. She'd still be 10 years old if she wanted to be a human, and now she—I—could switch between forms at will. Leader of Team Pecha, best friends with Chikorita and Grovyle, a total kick-butt fighter girl…of course I would've given anything to actually be her. Only I never knew that it was possible as a Master of the Universe.

Chikorita complained, "But, Kel-Zich! If you knew, why didn't you tell us?"

"Simple. I looked into the future, and I found that if I told you, it would have given you a false sense of security such that…Queen X would have killed you all. I shall leave it at that." Then I swore he smirked.

"…Oh. That works," she concluded.

Grovyle stammered, "But—but—but—but—but—if SHE—was the Master of the Universe—and became MY Amy—and together, we saved our world from permanent paralysis—then Queen X—when she infected them—she would've—"

Celebi interrupted him with a triumphant revelation. "So THAT'S why this whole universe began collapsing!"

"Yes. In the normal course of events, she would have lived her whole life in her home dimension and became Amy Purima when she died. I now believe it was this universe's failsafe system, in case anything like this were to ever happen to her," concluded Kel-Zich, glaring hard at Zoroark, who in turn gulped and cringed, chuckling weakly.

Grovyle argued, "But wait. She doesn't remember anything from her previous life, does she? Then it's like she still died."

"I believe that was also another failsafe system in order to prevent Queen X from discovering the truth. If she did, then she would've attacked Amy Purima instead, resulting in an early subjugation of the galaxy. And none of you would have had enough time to train for the battle against her."

He was still in denial. "And now she remembers everything again? How does **that** work out?"

I finally couldn't take it anymore. I've had it up to here with everyone denying what was so obviously the serendipitous truth right in front of them. I mean, come on! I worked so hard to give us all a happy ending; they could've at least had the decency to believe it instead of killing my buzz.

So I exploded, "How many times do I have to freakin' tell you guys? I'm not dead yet! I used to be Amy [you know who], but now I'm Amy Vee Purima! We ARE one and the same! She—I mean, I—didn't remember until **just now!** Okay, so I know this is weird—I mean, Tsubasa-type weird—I'll admit I was totally freaked out when I found that all this time I've been best friends with **myself**—but it's true, I tell you! It's true! You don't have to call me Big Amy or Little Amy anymore! I know—it really annoyed me too! From now on, I'm the true Amy, okay? Queen X was right about one thing...there was meant to be one Amy, and one Amy only. There always was."

I then turned to each of them one by one to prove my point. "Samus! During one of your first missions, you saved a little girl named Damara from being executed by the Space Pirates! That's something Amy Purima never knew, right?"

She paled. "No way…"

"Chikorita! I asked you what you thought of interspecies romance, remember?"

She gasped, "Amy [you know who]…!"

Speaking of interspecies romance… "And Grovyle! I…I didn't want to do this, but you leave me no choice." By this time, I was aware that all the alien diplomats had already returned to their seats. Celebi and Gandrayda were watching, too. But I was desperate to make sure that he was fully aware of the truth. I hopped on Chikorita's back and used it as a springboard to latch onto Grovyle's jaw. "Remember **this?**" And then I…*ack!*…**opened the can of worms!**

"Awwww…!" cooed lots of people in the stadium, especially Gandrayda.

"Eeeewww…" groaned the meanie-butts, Chikorita, Kirby, Samus, and almost everyone else.

"AAAAAAAAH!" shrieked Celebi. She then promptly fainted right on Gandrayda's head.

Finally, Grovyle couldn't take it any more. "Mmmph! Mmmph! Mmmmmmmmmph!" he wildly mumbled before he could finally pull me off. He gasped for air and exclaimed, "Okay, I get it! I get it! It's you!" He then hugged me, and Chikorita joined in, and so did Kirby. Everyone clapped and cheered.

When we all finally let go, I shouted at the audience (but mostly while glaring at Gandrayda), "And for the record, I'd rather eat **worm guts** than ever do that again!"

Awkward silence. One wacky-looking multi-eyed fish-like alien shouted out, "What are you talking about? Worm guts are delicious!" while grinning widely and licking his lips.

"What she's saying is that she meant that in the most platonic way possible!" added Grovyle. Everyone laughed. Right then, the Grand Councilwoman came in through some hidden door behind us…and I think even she chuckled. Didn't matter, though. We were together at last!

Right then, alarms blared in the room. Holograms popped up around the ceiling, and a voice over the loudspeaker blared, "Incoming warp! Incoming warp!" And right around where the holograms were, a portal opened. It was lined with multi-colored pulsating tentacles, and glowed in all the colors of the rainbow. I knew that look…but I couldn't believe it, either.

Out of the portal came…Arceus and Dusknoir! Dusknoir rode on Arceus' back and waved to everyone as Arceus majestically sailed down and settled down to our level.

"Arceus! Dusknoir! You're alive!" Chikorita and I shouted. We jumped up and down in excitement.

Dusknoir focused his gaze on me. "Allow me to explain. According to what Lord Arceus revealed to me, when you sacrificed your physical shell according to the Law of Equivalent Exchange for this Metroid's body,"—he gestured to Sporis—"your mass was **far greater** than that which was necessary for her, as you can see. The remaining mass became released in the form of revitalization particle emissions. They scattered across the diameter of the entire galaxy, and settled upon every being that the X Parasites had infected and killed, including us. I hypothesize that those very particles resided in your body for the sole purpose of such an action…so that no noble being would unjustly perish. Or at least, that's what you wished as Master of the Universe."

"AND AS SUCH, I MUST THANK YOU. I AM VERY SORRY FOR DOUBTING YOU AND BELIEVING THAT IMPOSTER. CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?" asked Arceus.

I thought for a moment back to the incongruities between the movie and what I've learned in church. "Well…how about this, Arceus? If you promise to forgive** all **people for their sins—not just Damos, Sheena, Kevin, and Marcus—I promise to forgive you. What do you say?"

He smiled. "YOU REALLY ARE LIKE SHEENA. VERY WELL. I SHALL ACCEPT."

I still wasn't sure how he could've possibly confused me with Sheena (or where the real Sheena or Kevin or Michina Town was located in this galaxy, for that matter)...but I decided to let the matter slide for then. He was the Lord of Everyone and Everything on Planet Portania, after all. I had to show him some respect, too.

Right then, we heard a voice coming from a hidden passageway behind the wall to our left, saying, "And I, too, have to thank you."

We turned around. "Grand Councilwoman!" I gasped.

"I have listened in, and according to all of your accounts, it seems that I must thank you, Amy Vee Purima—or should I say, Amy [you know who]—for your efforts in saving my life and preserving the peace of this galaxy. I have several announcements to make."

She pressed a button and had her platform float right to us, riding on our Air Ride Machines. "Amy Vee Purima…Chikorita…Grovyle…Samus Aran…and Kirby? I hereby clear you of all criminal charges and exonerate you from execution."

"YAAAAAY!" Chikorita and I cheered.

"Samus Aran? In light of your heroic actions, I hereby revoke your employment termination status. It appears that your decision to crash the BSL Research Station wasn't as foolhardy as it seemed."

She bowed. "Thank you, ma'am."

"And as for Zoroark…?" She turned to her left.

He stood up straight and backed away, intimidated. "Y—y—yes, ma'am?"

"I shall give you, Darkrai, Zark, and Zork permission to rebuild the Space Pirate Homeworld…assuming, of course, that the Space Pirates would be receptive to our peaceful intentions?"

Zark replied, "Yes Wii r, ma'am!"

"Yeh…whut he sed!" added Zork.

"Adam Malkovich?"

"Yes, Grand Councilwoman?" We gasped as he appeared on a hologram right in front of her. He turned to us and replied, "Don't bother explaining, guys. I watched your whole battle."

"You shall take Commander Tierney's position as High Commander."

"Woohoo!" he cheered. "Take THAT, Commander Tierney! I hope my subordinates don't mind taking orders from a brain-in-a-computer. I'm kidding, I'm kidding! There are tons of brain-in-a-computers nowadays!"

Right then, another screen popped up. It showed a balding, elderly man about 62 years old, with sharp eyes—oh yeah! I knew him. He shouted, "What the—?"

*BEEEEEEEP!*

The Grand Councilwoman had a finger pressed on some button on the console in front of her, with an exasperated expression on her face as if she faced this kind of thing every day. "Please, ex-commander…Watch your language. There are children here."

"Who the *BEEP* cares? You can't do this to me, you *BEEEEEEP*!"

Apparently, she kept pressing the button that made that bleeping sound whenever he was about to shout a cuss word. Whoa…she was psychic! "Tierney, your performance has become unacceptable lately. You failed to take the necessary security precautions that would have otherwise prevented intruders from coming in, you were unnecessarily harsh, and you have continued to vent your anger out on your subordinates even after we gave you three warnings."

"Are you saying I should be a *BEEEEEP*-in' pansy? *BEEP* straight! I'm gonna get over there and *BEEEEP* all of your *BEEEEEP*-in' *BEEEEP*s, you *BEEEEEP*-in' *BEEEEP* *BEEEEEEEP*—!"

The Grand Councilwoman promptly turned off Tierney's screen, probably because not only was he overdoing the cuss words, but because I couldn't stop rolling around on my Slick Star, laughing like crazy. Hey, I couldn't help it! If I heard a normal cuss word, I'd shiver, but if I heard it bleeped out…well, the noise was just too hilarious!

Everyone else looked at me in an odd way, wondering what I was laughing so hard about. Finally, I calmed down enough to ask Adam, "…Mr. Malkovich? I'm guessing that was the real Commander Tierney, right?"

He just stared at me. "…Uh…yeah. Though he's now an ex-commander. And please, call me Adam. I mean, you've just saved the whole galaxy, Miss Grand Master of the Universe!"

"Is—" Another laugh burst out of me, and I slammed my mouth shut in response. "I'm sorry, Adam—Is he always like that?"

He though for a bit before answering, "…Pretty much."

I thought I heard the Grand Councilwoman whisper to a dinosaur soldier, "Make sure Tierney's taken to Detention Cell 45-10." She then turned our attention back to us.

Samus stepped forward and asked, "But what about Sporis?"

"You mean this newborn creature? Our scientists have requested the use of her abilities for those peaceful applications they were developing. Of course, they would have to earn your permission first. After all, I hereby allow you, Samus Aran, to be the official guardian of the Metroid life-form Sporis."

"Thank you, Grand Councilwoman!" She then turned to Sporis and whispered, "Isn't this great, Sporis? We can finally be together again!"

"Together! Together! YAAAY!" chirped Sporis, bouncing up and down.

The Grand Councilwoman had one more surprise announcement. "And finally…Dr. Jumba Jookiba. Come on out. We know where you are hiding."

We all stared as Jumba came up from below on a hover pod, previously hidden from view. He stammered, "Ah…yes. Of course you'd find evil genius hiding place, Grand Councilwoman. You have super-excellent x-ray vision that penetrates through titanium steel chamber and—"

"Enough of your sycophant flattery. Now in light of your confession that you created the beings known as X Parasites, we have originally decided to lock you up in maximum security prison."

I gasped and shot a dismayed look at the Grand Councilwoman, but couldn't say anything, either. How could I? I was stuck in another of those moral quandaries. On one hand, it might've seemed right to punish Jumba for making those little buggers in the first place that completely ruined Samus and the Chozo's lives, yet on the other hand, that was a really long time ago, and the fact that he actually helped me—twice—seemed to prove that he actually did have a change of heart, just like Darkrai and the three Z's. Was it really fair to do this to Jumba? Or would he go on to create something worse if we didn't stop him?

The Grand Councilwoman noticed me, but then smiled at announced, "However, considering the facts that you could not be held responsible for your rash actions back then…AND assisted Amy in her time of need…we have a proposition for you. If you promise to never create another illegal genetic experiment again, we shall grant you your freedom. Do we have a deal, Dr. Jumba?"

We were all stunned. So was Jumba. Then he cheered and shouted, "YES! Now I can continue work for Galaxy Defense Industries! Heheheheheh!" He collapsed on the hover pod in laughter.

Everyone in the audience clapped and cheered. The Grand Councilwoman pressed a few buttons on the console that allowed our platform to float back outside, while the Chozo and Kel-Zich got to float closer. Obviously, she would want to discuss the terms to welcoming the Chozo and Ylla back into the Galactic Federation, and I suspected that she and Kel-Zich were old friends. But we were ready to face the crowd outside waiting to welcome us. I smiled and hugged my friends again. "I love you guys," I whispered.

"I always did, too," replied Grovyle.

"Me too," added Chikorita. And we all knew we all meant that in the most platonic way possible. Finally, after all of that hard work and effort of ours…after everything we've ever endured…we've finally achieved a happy ending for everyone!

To be continued…

**Coming up next: Wow. Amy Purima and I were the same person all along? Wild! But everything's not said and done yet! We still have to deal with the adoring crowd outside. Arceus has to show us what happens to me after this life. And we have to decide whether to live in the future or that past. No matter what we choose, though, rest assured that this universe will always find a way to balance itself out. Don't miss our final musical performance with all the aliens we've ever met as we all realize that **We're All In This Together**!**


	32. We're All in This Together

Chapter 34: We're All in This Together

_The Heroes of Time and Space, Amy, Chikorita, Grovyle, and Kirby, are standing on a platform that's currently taking them and their Air Ride Machines out of the Galactic Federation Headquarters building. They emerge into daylight amidst a huge crowd, full of aliens, Pokémon, people, Medabots, and many, many more. Confetti saturates the air, mostly scattered around by WALL-E, EVE, and several other flying Medabots. The heroes look at the upcoming crowd and groan._

Amy, Chikorita, and Grovyle: Oohhh boy… (Here we go again…)

_Luckily, for the sake of their sanity, there are security robots there to prevent the crowd from reaching any further. The only ones that manage to rush up to the Heroes of Time and Space are the ones they're already familiar with: Alex, Cassie, and Peter._

Alex: Dude! I'm like, so sorry about before! I mean, X Parasites? Why didn't you say so?

Cassie: We saw everything out here! You were all amazing! You, Chikorita, and Grovyle, and all of your friends!

Peter: Yeah, I know, right? You were like, POW and THWA-KAM and "Take that, Queen X!" Man, I wish I was half as good as you!

Alex: And—call me crazy—but is it true that Amy and you were actually the same person all along? I don't think I heard them right…

Amy: For the record, you're not crazy. It's true. Guess that means we can't enter Pokéathlon Contests anymore (not that I'd want to, though…). And while I'm at it, I think you guys should know the truth. Wanna see something cool?

Peter: Yeah, what?

Amy (scrunching her eyes, hoping it will work): Ala…kablooie!

_Yep, it works. She shoots to a height of 4'3", totally freaking them out (and the crowd, too!)._

Alex, Cassie, and Peter: WHOA!

Alex: How'd you DO that?

Cassie: You can turn into a human?

Peter: Or did you turn into a Jigglypuff back then?

Amy: You're right, Peter. How I could, now that's a long story. You'll either have to ask my friends here, or wait for me to write my memoirs. But I prefer to stay as a Jigglypuff. Watch this! Ala-kazoo!

_And she turns back into a Jigglypuff._

Alex, Cassie, and Peter: WHOA!

Peter: That is so wicked! You could use that for—I dunno—anything!

Kirlia: Grovyle! Chikorita! Remember us?

_Right then, from the crowd, a Kirlia and her Mawile assistant also break from the crowd and rush up to them._

Chikorita: Hey, I know you! You're the ones who sold us those Oxygen Orbs!

Grovyle: Really helped us out a lot. Thanks.

Amy (flabbergasted): Whoa whoa whoa, hold up! You guys bought that stuff from a Kirlia and a Mawile, and you never told me?

Chikorita: Yeah. Why?

Grovyle: I mean, I thought it wouldn't matter—

Amy: Kirlia and Mawile are my two other most favorite Pokémon ever!

Mawile (blushing): Wh—wha—really?

Kirlia (glaring): Hey! Mawile! Show some respect! These are famous Pokémon we're dealing with!

_Kirlia then turns to Amy, smiling._

Kirlia: I don't believe we've met yet. Nice to meet you, Amy! If you need anything else related to space travel, just let us know, okay?

Amy (thinking): Actually…I've got an idea. You guys run your own shop, right Kirlia?

Kirlia: Why, yes, every part of it! Mawile helps me, too. He's got a bit of learning to do, though. What about it?

Amy: I've got this idea for a shop called "Team Pecha Berry Juice Shop". You know, since Grovyle and Chikorita and I are Team Pecha, I figured maybe we could make a living serving Pecha Berry Juice Drinks on Planet Portania—

Mawile (excited): We'll help! We'll help!

Kirlia (pushing Mawile out of the way): That sounds like a GREAT idea, Amy! We'll help you find the right spot and have it built in no time.

_Right then, Arceus flies out through the door behind Team Pecha. Dusknoir, all six of his Sableye lackeys, Samus, and Kirby are all riding on his back. All the Pokémon suddenly become reverent and bow down to him, while everyone else just claps and cheers some more. He settles to the ground and lets the Sableye jump off._

Amy: Hi Dusknoir! How'd your Sableye friends get here?

Dusknoir: They, uh…wish to formally thank you for resuscitating me when it was completely unlikely.

Sableye #1: Amy! Amy! You save Lord Dusknoir, right?

Amy: Uh…I guess—AAAAAH, wait wait wait wait wait—!

_They charge and bury her in a pile._

Sableye: Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you—

Amy: Ow! Ow! GET…OFF…ME!

_She shoves them all off._

Chikorita: Hey! What's the big deal with Amy, anyway? We helped her out!

Sableye #2: Lord Dusknoir says he already dead. For days. And then Amy make him alive again.

Sableye #3: If anything kill Lord Dusknoir, we be very sad.

Sableye #4: Yeah. We no live without him.

Sableye #5: But we no have present to thank you with…

Sableye #6: Hey! Me know! Me know! We make official Amy fan club!

All other Sableye: Yeah yeah yeah! Fan club! Fan club! We number one fans!

Amy (getting flabbergasted): Wait—what…?

Mawile: An official Amy fan club? I wanna join! I wanna join!

Kirby: Me too! Me too! I wuv fan cwubs!

Amy: N—now just wait a second here…!

Grovyle: It might be good to see what it's like. Let me join too.

Amy: AAGH! Not you too, Grovyle!

_The nine of them surround Amy and throw her in the air over and over again to cheers and exultations._

All nine: Hip hip, HOORAY! Hip hip, HOORAY! Hip hip, HOORAY!

Amy (completely overwhelmed): (Why me…?) Chikorita! Arceus! Someone get me outta here!

Chikorita (stifling laughter): Okay, Amy… (Wow. She's so funny when it comes to popularity!)

_Chikorita jumps on Arceus' back and uses her Vine Whip to pluck Grovyle, Kirby, and finally Amy out of there. _

Sableye (all at once): WE LOVE YOU!

Amy (to Grovyle, whispering): That's kinda the whole point of fan clubs, you know.

Grovyle: Oooooh…I get it. Whoops. (But it **was** kind of fun.)

_Arceus then takes off and leaves the Air Ride Machines behind, flying through the air and taking the heroes on a tour through the entirety of Gaijin City. He even shows them to their old Secret Base, where the Wuudites also wave as they fly by. Amy rides on Arceus' head, while Chikorita and Kirby hang onto his horns. Grovyle hangs onto his throat, while Samus and Sporis ride him like a horse. And finally, Dusknoir hangs onto the golden wheel in the back._

Arceus: YOU SEE, TEAM PECHA? YOU HAVE HELPED MORE PEOPLE THAN YOU EVER COULD HAVE REALIZED. BE THANKFUL FOR THEIR SUPPORT. ONLY ONE IN A BILLION BEINGS EVER BECOME THIS WIDELY BELOVED FOR THEIR EFFORTS.

Amy: Really? No way…

Chikorita: I guess it makes sense. But still…we've already been famous in the past, too…

Arceus: AH, YES. SPEAKING OF THE PAST…AMY, THERE IS STILL SOMETHING ON YOUR MIND THAT IS WORRYING YOU, CORRECT?

Amy: Oh yeah…If I became Amy Purima just now…what'll happen to my old life? Will I disappear forever? I mean, I love being everything I've ever wanted to be…but it kinda feels sad to see everything I've ever worked for back then go to waste…and my family and friends…will they—?

Arceus: NO WORRIES. I SHALL SHOW YOU.

Grovyle: Wait, what?

_He blasts off into the stratosphere, and the Pokémon (and Kirby and Sporis) quickly slip on Oxygen Orbs. Finally, he clears the atmosphere and charges up energy in his golden wheel._

Arceus: PREPARE YOURSELVES. WE SHALL TRAVEL THROUGH TIME. HANG ON TIGHT…AND WATCH OUT FOR ECHTHROI.

Amy: Wait…did you say "Echthroi"? (How does he know about that book A Wind In The Door, anyway?)

Chikorita: What? What's an Echthroi?

Amy: They're these evil beings that can X you, and—

Grovyle: X you? As in, the X Parasites? What are you talking about?

Arceus (chuckling): I AM JUST KIDDING. THERE IS NO SUCH THING. "ECHTHROI" IS JUST GREEK FOR "ENEMIES", ANYWAY.

Amy: Ooooh… (I didn't know that. Huh. So that's how the Madeline L'Engle named them. Silly obscure cultural references. So annoying.)

Chikorita: What's Greek?

_But there's no time for him to answer that. He opens a portal in front of him and charges through. It's a time tunnel. Everyone else hangs on. Finally, he emerges through the other side. They find that they're all headed towards Earth again…a familiar Earth._

Kirby: Pwetty pwanet! Pwetty pwanet!

Dusknoir: I do not believe I am familiar with this one…

Amy: Is this what I think it is…?

Arceus: YES. PERHAPS IT WOULD BE BETTER IF I WERE TO SHOW YOU WHAT IS TRANSPIRING DOWN THERE AS WE SPEAK.

_His eyes glow, and a screen of blue light materializes all around his passengers. _

Amy: Whoa! You're just like Latios!

Chikorita: You can make us see everything you're seeing? Awesome!

_They then see everything that he's seeing as he uses his super-vision to penetrate the clouds, zoom towards North America, then Virginia, and then…a familiar house. It is the middle of the night. The previous Amy is fast asleep, when she suddenly disappears in a vortex lined with multicolored tentacles._

Amy (gasping): So that's how it looked…it wasn't a dream…

Arceus: THAT WAS THE DAY WHEN ZOROARK PULLED YOU INTO OUR DIMENSION. NOW CONTINUE WATCHING…

_They wait for several more minutes. Suddenly, a bright yellow light materializes out of thin air right on top of the bed. It's that same Amy again!_

Grovyle: She came back? When does this happen?

Arceus: SIMPLE. ONCE ALL OF YOUR ADVENTURES ARE FINISHED AND YOUR TIMES ARE UP, HER SOUL WILL AUTOMATICALLY RESUME THE LIFE IT HAD BEFORE. THAT WAY, HER HOME UNIVERSE STAYS IN BALANCE, TOO.

_They continue watching as the Amy from the future wakes up, rushes around, and gasps when she realizes where she is. Arceus then conveniently blinks, and the next thing they see is the future Amy running out the house and along the sidewalks as fast as she can._

Samus: Hey, wait a second…I know this place! This is where I landed before with Chikorita and…

_She ends up at the blacktop of the elementary school, the same blacktop where the whole adventure started._

Chikorita (panicking): Where are we? Where's Samus' ship? What's going on in here?

Arceus: CALM DOWN, CHILD. SHE IS BACK IN HER HOME UNIVERSE, WHICH NONE OF YOU CAN APPEAR IN. IT JUST SO HAPPENS THAT EARTH IN THE YEAR 2010 IS EXACTLY THE SAME IN BOTH HER DIMENSION AND OURS.

Samus (relieved): So she didn't die or disappear after all. She gave herself a happy ending, too! I…I never would've believed it if you never showed me it yourself, Arceus! Seriously…thank you so much!

Amy: I still get my old life back, eventually! I knew I'd always find a way!

Dusknoir: Aaah…the universe truly is a self-sustaining entity. I am now convinced that it constantly conjures up methods for sustaining its homeostasis no matter what disturbances may arise. Amy, if everything in our universe truly does arise from that cranium of yours…then I must admit it. You are one clever little girl.

_And with that, every one of us ends up shedding tears of joy. Even Kirby and Sporis end up joining in. Finally, Arceus cuts off the transmission into my home dimension._

Arceus: SO. AMY AND CHIKORITA? WHAT WILL YOU DECIDE? WILL YOU GO BACK TO YOUR ORIGINAL HOME IN THE PAST, OR WILL YOU LIVE IN THE FUTURE? THINK ABOUT IT. ONCE YOU HAVE MADE YOUR CHOICE…THERE IS NO GOING BACK.

Amy and Chikorita: …

Samus: If you go back…will our future change forever? Will I still have a job, or maybe…?

Grovyle: We've all helped make the future a better place. I'm just worried that if you guys go back, maybe…all of our hard work…might be undone.

_They think for a long time, and after thinking through the events of the past month, they finally realize there is only one choice they can make. _

Amy: …I'm going to live in the future. With Grovyle, and Dusknoir, and Kirby…and everyone else! What about you, Chikorita?

Chikorita: …Anywhere you go, I'll go with you, Amy. You know that. But…what about our friends from the past? Team Charm, Officer Magnezone, Master Wigglytuff…we never got to say goodbye to any of them. Right now…maybe they still miss us. They never knew when our space adventure would be. In fact, I don't know if we even told them about it…!

Amy: …I get it. So…maybe we should say goodbye to them all. The right way. Assuming it won't change everything we've done in the future.

Arceus: VERY WELL. I SHALL ALLOW YOU TIME TO SAY GOODBYE. HOLD ON.

_He leaps through a wormhole to Planet Portania. When we arrive, he lets Amy, Chikorita, and Grovyle get off. Dusknoir, Samus, Kirby, and Sporis stay on as he speeds back to the stratosphere to wait for them. They find that he dropped them off in front of Master Wigglytuff's guild in Treasure Town. It is just about morning. _

Wigglytuff: …Amy?

Amy: …Master Wigglytuff!

Wigglytuff: Guys, guys, wake up and see! Amy and friends are hereie!

_Every single guild member comes out and swarms them, even more excited to see that Grovyle is with them. _

Amy: Just like old times, huh Chikorita?

Chikorita: Yep. Just like old times. Sure feels kinda primitive compared to what we just went through.

Amy: Yeah, I know what you mean.

_Everyone continues to bombard Grovyle with questions and stuff._

Narrator: So Team Pecha, which Grovyle is now officially a part of, finally came full circle with their outer space adventure. They told the story to everyone in Treasure Town…to Team Charm, Team Raider, and even Officer Magnezone. Then when they announced that they would be leaving to live in the future forever, everyone was shocked. However, they soon accepted the truth of Team Pecha's reasoning. So plans were made for them to say goodbye at the top of the Hill of the Ancients by sunset. (And yes, the Hill of the Ancients exists in this world too, not just in the Rescue Team games.)

_The Hill of the Ancients is a massive cliff overlooking the Northern Desert. A crowd of Pokémon is already there, surrounding it on all sides. Everyone Team Pecha ever knew, from Team Charm to the Ludicoolaid Man, is all there, very sad. Amy, Chikorita, and Grovyle are all at the top of the hill, waiting for Arceus to pick them up._

Gardevoir: I had foreseen this. And yet it is odd…knowing you all will go does not lessen the pain.

Medicham: Yo, look at the bright side! Least they won't steal our glory anymore, huh?

Lopunny (admonishingly): Medicham!

Medicham: What? Just sayin'.

Ludicoolaid Man: Dude. I told you we'd do our best but…do you know how hard it is to find pro dancers like you two nowadays?

Amy: I know. Thanks, though. We promise we'll do our best to continue your hard work into the future. How about that?

Ludicoolaid Man: Hey, if it's cool with you, it's cool with me. Stay awesome.

Chikorita: We will. Thanks.

Wigglytuff (crying frantically): Amyyyyy! I'm gonna miss you sooooo muchie! If only there'd be someone who'd be willing to switch places with me, I'd…I'd…WAAAAAH!

Amy: It's okay, Master Wigglytuff, it's okay. Actually…that might be possible. I can ask Arceus.

Wigglytuff: Really? YAY!

Officer Magnezone: No more aliens have landed here since you were away, ZZZT! We have done our best in keeping the peace for you, and we shall continue to do so, ZZZT!

Chikorita (smiling): Nice.

Magnemite #1: Grovyle, We are ZZZT so sorry ZZZT we ever thought ZZZT you were a bad guy, ZZZT ZZZT!

Grovyle: I keep telling you! I forgive you guys already! Just quit making those annoying buzzing sounds in my ear!

Magnemite #2: AAAH! We are ZZZT so very sorry ZZZT ZZZT!

_Finally, Amy steps up to the very top of the cliff and faces everyone. Chikorita and Grovyle join her. The whole crowd falls silent._

Amy: Everyone? I'd like to thank you all for being so good to us in our mission to save the future. Now we have to go live with all of our friends. We've promised them we wouldn't hurt them by changing the past too much. But before we go, I'd like to make a few announcements.

Chikorita: As you can see, anyone can become an exploration team, not just a few select individuals. Heck, I was the biggest scaredy-cat around! We may look like two innocent little girls, but if we can do it, you can, too.

Amy: Don't let anyone tell you what you can and can't do. If you know in your heart that you're meant to do something, I say, go ahead and do it! Even when you're faced with a situation when your world is turned upside-down, your heart will always know what to do.

Grovyle: She's right. She's very right. Take it from me, people. When I lived in the dark future world, I always believed that using my head was always the best strategy. But this adventure proved that using your head only can end up hurting you if you ignore your heart, too. Using your head will help you survive…but using your heart will lead you to the kind true happiness you've always been looking for…even if you never knew you were. So yeah, use both.

Amy: But most importantly of all, you should never, ever, ever forget what true friendship really means. True friends never hurt each other and will always protect each other no matter what. 500 years may pass before any of you see us come back, but until then, I know you will keep on meeting new Pokémon, aliens, and many, many more friends than you could possibly imagine! But remember this…don't be afraid of them. If you're patient, and don't give up on someone…they will, eventually, show their good side to you. Remember that.

_She turns to a group of Dark-type Pokémon in the shadows of a rock somewhere in the crowd and smiles sincerely at them. They smile back, relieved, and shedding tears of joy. Right then, they can see Arceus coming down. Everyone bows down to him in reverence._

Chikorita: I guess it's time for us to go now. But don't worry. We'll never forget any of you. We promise.

Amy: (I remember this scene. It's what I've always imagined would happen if you recruited every single one of the 386 Pokémon from the Rescue Team games—that you'd get to go back to the human world, saying goodbye to your partner and everyone you knew, right at this very spot. While we're just going to the future…we're still saying goodbye. I guess this works as well as any.)

Grovyle: Arceus. I still have to thank you for keeping us all alive in the future.

Arceus: AND I SHALL DO SO AGAIN. ANYTHING FOR THE HEROES OF TIME AND SPACE.

Amy: The Heroes…of Time and Space?

Chikorita: We're the Heroes of Time **and** Space?

Amy and Chikorita: YAAAAAAY!

_The three of them hop on. Chikorita grabs the other horn of Arceus, Grovyle climbs onto Arceus' neck, and Amy plops herself securely on top of Arceus' head. The Pokémon crowd ooh and ahh at Dusknoir, Samus, Sporis, and Kirby. _

Amy (whispering): Oh yeah, and Arceus?

Arceus: YES?

Amy: About Master Wigglytuff…

Arceus: OH, IT IS EASILY POSSIBLE. YOU SHALL SEE.

_Finally, Arceus flies away to gain a running start, and then zooms toward the crowd in an arc before sharply charging upwards into the stratosphere._

Amy and Chikorita: GOODBYYYYYYE!

Everyone: We'll miss you! We promise we'll help make the future a better place! Good luck!

_Though Amy doesn't know it, Master Wigglytuff grabs onto one of Arceus' legs from below. And from the wormhole in the sky, just before they enter, a different Master Wigglytuff from the future ends up falling out. Looks like he couldn't care less about meeting the new arrivals, considering how eager he looked to get out of there. They go through the time tunnel._

Amy, Chikorita, Kirby, and Sporis: WA-HOOOOOO!

_They end up in Planet Portania of the future, and arrive amidst a swarm of confetti, fireworks, etc. Night has just fallen, and already there are hydrogen powered electric lights and everything. Amy and Chikorita are shocked to see that their Pecha Berry house is not only in a more convenient location (near Quartzite Cave in a forest close to Apple Jungle), it also looks brand-new._

Amy: Our house! It's our house! Arceus, did you—?

Arceus: THAT IS CORRECT. I FIGURED YOU AND CHIKORITA WOULD STILL WANT IT, SO I BROUGHT IT ALONG WITH ME, AS WELL AS…

Wigglytuff: Yay! Yay! I get to stay with Amy!

Amy: Master Wigglytuff? What are you doing here? Who's going to manage the guild?

Wigglytuff: Oh, don't worry. Arceus switched me with some guy that'll keep it nice and tidy.

_And they all land amidst whooping and cheering. They all jump off. Kirlia and Mawile rush up to them._

Kirlia: Amy! I helped you get your "Team Pecha Berry Juice Shop" right next to your house!

Chikorita: Really? We're selling Pecha Berry Juice, Amy? Yaaaaaay!

Grovyle: That might be an interesting experience. I could try it out too.

Mawile: It's not too hard! I can help you guys out!

Amy: Now that's what I like to hear!

_Arceus then opens up portals to Capital Planet Earth, Planet Chozodia, and the Space Pirate Homeworld. _

Arceus: IT APPEARS THAT EVERYONE ON THESE THREE PLANETS WANTS TO TRY A SONG AND DANCE WITH EVERYONE HERE. WHAT DO YOU SAY, AMY?

Amy: A song and dance? Now?

_Pokémon she doesn't even know yet are already playing drums and music, and even the trumpet entourage people are there, too._

Exploud: Welcome back, Your Awesomeness!

Grovyle: Oh yeah? If you want to continue calling me Prince Grovyle, you'd better start including my friends in, too.

Exploud: Huh?

Chikorita: That's right! You can call me Princess Chikorita…

Amy: Actually, Princess Amy doesn't really sound that bad!

Exploud: Uh…okaaaaay. Very well. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! Presenting Their Royal Awesomenesses, Prince Grovyle, Princess Chikorita, aaaaaand…Princess Amy!

_The crowd goes wild, and the three of them smile at the sound of their (un) official titles. The tune becomes even more obvious. Amy can suddenly remember the lyrics._

Amy: Hey, I know this tune! (Okay, so maybe I just graduated from high school…but it still makes total sense!) Count…me…**in!** Woohoo!

_They all sing at once, though Amy is by far the loudest and the most skilled at controlling her pitch._

—SONGFIC ALERT!—

Together, together, together, everyone!  
Together, together, let's have some fun!  
Together, we're there for, each other every time,  
Together, together, c'mon, let's do this right!

_In the midst of all that singing and dancing, Samus and Sporis jump through the portal leading to Planet Chozodia, where Old Bird, Gray Voice, and the rest of the Chozo are singing and dancing along. Amy, Chikorita, and Grovyle sing these upcoming parts all by themselves, almost like a 3-person solo, so to speak._

Here and now, it's time for celebration,  
I've finally figured it out, yeah yeah,  
That all our dreams, have no limitation,  
That's what it's all about, (C'mon now!)  
Everyone, is special in their own way,  
We make each other strong, (yeah yeah!)  
We're not the same, we're different in a good way,  
Together's where we belong…

_Even the Space Pirates are celebrating on their homeworld, dancing along to the music. They're celebrating the Independence Day of their world. The three Z's and Darkrai dance atop the giant headquarters building with a huge "Z" engraved into the side, kind of like Zurg Tower…a bit creepy, but it works anyway. They come up with completely wacky moves, especially ones like the robot, the worm, and all kinds of breakdancing moves._

Zoroark's Narration: Darkrai, Zark, Zork, and I all helped to rebuild the Space Pirate Homeworld from Queen X's rampage and destruction. I taught Darkrai all about how hyperdrive engines work, how to lead people, how to kick butt in battle...you know, everything. But I then realized that, if I remembered correctly, Chikorita had to teach that Amy everything all over again, just like with Darkrai and me. He was the brother I wished I always had. I've always seen Team Pecha annoying little naïve idealists, but now…they actually seem a lot smarter than I thought they were. They saved my life, even after I've ruined their lives too many times to count. Maybe…just maybe…if I fix the Space Pirate Homeworld correctly, they'll let us go back home. Aw, who am I kidding? I like it here! Maybe I'll stay here with Darkrai! These Space Pirate dudes need leaders who'll stop 'em from making stupid decisions, now that Queen X and that so-called "Mother Brain" are gone.

_Everyone on all four planets sing the chorus at once._

We're all in this together,  
Once we know that we are, we're all stars, and we see that,  
We're all in this together,  
And it shows when we stand, hand in hand, make our dreams come truuuuue!

Samus' Narration: So anyway, Adam, Sporis, and I would end up helping the Chozo move back in with the Galactic Federation and restoring their interplanetary civilization to their former glory. The Galactic Federation scientists found several ways that Sporis could be used for the power of good, but every so often, she'd get hungry. And guess who figured out what she could eat?

_A scene from the future! Amy, Chikorita, Grovyle, and Kirby all run the Team Pecha Berry Juice Shop, serving drinks to tons of Pokémon customers. Samus' ship lands nearby, and she jumps out, along with Sporis._

Amy: Samus! Sporis! What would you like today?

Sporis: Me want that! Me want that!

Chikorita: One Metroid special coming right up! Oh wait, only you can make it, Amy.

Samus: I'm surprised you can make a drink infused with life energy without fainting yourself, Amy.

Amy: Oh, it's easy! Must be a side effect of being the Master of the Universe. Okay! It's done!

Samus: Thanks. Here's a tip.

Sporis: Yum yum yum yum yum!

Adam: Keep up the good work, girls!

_Sporis sucks up the huge drink, but it take her a while to finish, so Samus drags her back to the ship. Chikorita squeals at the amount of extra money they made._

Samus' Narration: Yeah. Apparently, Amy's the only one who can make drinks that Sporis is willing to drink. I've gotta hand it to her. She gave me the first birthday party I've ever had…she brought Sporis back to life for me…she even taught me what it was like to have a true friend. I never could've completed my mission to repay the Chozo for all the good they've done for me if it weren't for her. I'm so glad we got to be friends.

Adam's Narration: Me? Oh, don't worry about me. I'm doing just fine back here at High Command. I'm glad to see that Samus—and Amy—are doing just fine. I'll admit that keeping the baby Metroid—I mean, Sporis—was a bit risky…but those peaceful applications seem to be worth the effort. As for Samus, though…now I'm more convinced than ever that when I sacrificed myself to keep her alive…it was all worth it. She's a galactic savior, after all…not me. In fact, she and Amy both are! It's funny, though. Back when I was a human, I was concerned with procedure, but now that I'm practically immortal…I can see that I've been missing out on the more important things in life. I knew you could do it, Lady. I knew you could finally learn what it's like to find true happiness…to know what it's like to finally have a friend who understands you…just as much as I understood you.

_Back to today, across the four planets. Amy, Chikorita, and Grovyle jump to Gaijin City, where the inhabitants celebrate it with even more futuristic technology, like Dance Dance Revolution. Everyone is there; the Medabots, Jumba Jookiba, WALL-E and EVE, the Wuudites, Mr. Referee, the Pokéathlon Contest contestants…everyone. It's a wild party!_

Together, together, together, everyone!  
Together, together, let's have some fun!  
Together, we're there for, each other every time,  
Together, together, c'mon, let's do this right!

_Another 3-person solo act!_

We're all here, and speaking out with one voice,  
We're gonna rock the house, (yeah yeah!)  
The party's on, now everybody make some noise,  
Come on, scream and shout!  
We've arrived, because we've stuck together,  
Champions one and all~!

_And with that, they jump back to Planet Portania._

Grovyle's Narration: Wow! I never knew how wild the truth was about Amy! But I don't regret a single second. She and Chikorita finally came back, all for my sake. They taught me that now the galaxy was safe, it was okay to follow my heart for once. I've always believed that life is made for living, not just surviving. Now I know exactly **what** makes life worth living. Thank you, Amy. Even among humans—even Pokémon, for that matter—you truly are unique. No one can copy the real you, not even Queen X. I love you, and I mean that in the most platonic—Hey! Celebi! I know you're eavesdropping on me! Don't get any funny ideas, okay?

Celebi's Narration: Lost to a blasted human…*grumble grumble*…That two-timing Grovyle! I don't need him! I'll show him I can kick butt ten times better than he ever could! I mean, come on! I'm a freaking **Legendary **Pokémon! So I became a bounty hunter for the Galactic Federation and formed a super-team with Gandrayda. We can kick butt no matter which assignment they give us! HI-YAH!

_Another scene from the future. Celebi and Gandrayda are infiltrating a base on a faraway alien planet._

Gandrayda (giggling quietly): You sound jealous, Celebi.

Celebi: No I don't! …Now wait a second here! You never told me anyone you had any crushes on!

Gandrayda (winking): It's—a—secret! Heeheehee!

Celebi: Aw, come on!

Gandrayda: You're so loud. You're gonna mess up all of our stealth missions, which, by the way, I'm a complete master of.

_She turns into one of the natives of the planet to prove her point._

Celebi: *GAAR!*

_Back to today. It seems that Celebi and Gandrayda are also into the song, though they prefer to stay in Gaijin City._

We're all in this together,  
Once we know that we are, we're all stars, and we see that,  
We're all in this together,  
And it shows when we stand, hand in hand, make our dreams come  
We're all in this together,  
When we reach, we can fly, know inside, we can make it,  
We're all in this together,  
Once we see, there's a chance, that we have, and we take it,

_Amy, Chikorita, and Grovyle make their way to the Pecha Berry House by this point and bounce atop it, allowing them to look upon everyone in the crowd._

Everyone, sing along, yeah you really got it going on,  
Everyone, in the house, everybody say it now!  
Everyone, everywhere, wave your hands up in the air,  
That's the way we do it, let's get to it, time to show the world!

_By this point, Mawile, Kirby, and the six Sableye manage to make it up to the house._

Chikorita's Narration: Not only did we open up our own shop—this awesome guy called Suicune helped us discover our own private island called Pecha Berry Island! Grovyle, Amy, and I all go there whenever we need a break from our adoring crowd, and let Kirlia, Mawile, and sometimes Kirby handle our shop. (It helps that everyone seems to give us more space than usual whenever Suicune shows up.) I guess I'm starting to see why Amy was getting bored of being an exploration team—there are only so many places you can explore. But I'm glad she gave me the courage to face everything this space adventure threw at us! I'll never forget the original her no matter what. From now on, we'll be ready for any new adventures this galaxy might bring. Grovyle and Amy? Thank you for being with me all this time! You're the family I've always dreamed of! Let's be best friends—forever!

_A natural break in the song allows all the Pokémon to come up with wacky dance moves. In fact, Mawile, Kirby, Grovyle, and all six Sableye of the official Amy fan club start throwing her up and down again!_

Amy's Narration: We finally accomplished the happy ending we've always wanted! Master Wigglytuff and Master Kel-Zich became great friends, and they still give me advice from time to time. Grovyle, Chikorita, and I all live in peace on our true home, Planet Portania, though Kirby will always fly by to let us know if he needs our help with anything. It's odd, though. Queen X might've ruined all our lives and tortured me to no end, but now that I think about it…if it wasn't for her, I would've never gotten to meet Chikorita, or Grovyle, or all of my new friends here. So I guess I have to thank her, in a way. Even the meanie-butts, Zoroark, and Darkrai all became good in the end, too. Guess I shouldn't have been so hard on them. So, yeah! We have so much money; we can practically buy anything we want in Gaijin City! And whenever we get bored, there's sure to be another space adventure around the corner, where we'll never know which alien we're gonna meet next!

_She finally bounces out just in time for the song to start again._

We're all in this together,  
Once we know that we are, we're all stars, and we see that,  
We're all in this together,  
And it shows when we stand, hand in hand, make our dreams come  
We're all in this together,  
When we reach, we can fly, know inside, we can make it,  
We're all in this together,  
Once we see, there's a chance, that we have, and we take it,

_Almost the end of the song!_

Narrator: And so ends Team Pecha's outer space adventure prophesized by Grovyle and Celebi. They've saved the world once. They've saved the world twice. And lo and behold, against insurmountable odds…they've managed to save it three times. Best of all, they've done it with all of their song, dance, and artistic capabilities completely intact. And as it turns out…this actually** was** the longest fanfiction I've ever written in my life.

_Everyone on the four planets dances in tandem to the conclusion of the song and strikes a perfect ending pose. Even Dusknoir and Samus got into it, if just a little. Arceus just floats overhead the whole time, observing the scene, smiling, and looking out for anyone who might accidentally hurt themselves._

Everyone, everywhere, wave your hands up in the air,  
That's the way we do it, let's get to it, come on, everyone!

To be continued…

**Coming up next: So what happened in the end? Just one more chapter, people! See what really went on in Planet Earth in the past in my home dimension, when the words, "**Welcome Home**" become the most beautiful words I ever hear.**


	33. The Final Chapter: Welcome Home

The Final Chapter: Welcome Home

"Uugh…"

Where am I?

Didn't I die with Chikorita and Grovyle?

Is this…heaven?

BEEP BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP BEEP!

What was that noise? It was coming from below, from my left. I vaguely remembered it from a long time ago. I tilted my head and saw an old Nintendo DS, and the time on it. 5:30 am. Now how to shut off the noise? I remembered again. All I had to do was touch the screen, then touch the Yes button. Then press the power button to turn the whole thing off. There.

I then took in a full view of the room I was in. It had a white square-like ceiling, light green walls, dark blue curtains, a desk full of drawing materials, a closet, a faded pink backpack lying on the floor, a huge dark-brown oak dresser, a white door, and miscellaneous pieces of paper and supplies scattered around. Then I saw a picture of the altar at Temporal Tower, complete with not five, but six Time Gears in it, and I stared. Why was a tiny version of the altar attached to the wall of this room? It was like when I thought there was a false sixth one, like in The Heroes of Time. I then found I was lying in a bed that seemed like it would fit a human. Wait…a human?

I found that wearing pink PJs that I hadn't seen for a long time and gasped. Memories of the house that I lived in for 11 years of my life before suddenly came flooding back to me. I opened the door and ran down the hallway to the bathroom, turned on the light, and stared in the mirror.

I was a human again. I was 18 again.

I touched my face to make sure it wasn't a dream. I recognized that face. Ever since we defeated Queen X, I still haven't been able to forget. I then wondered what day it was, and went back to my room. I found my notebook still open to a certain page, and I read it.

_-June 22, 2010—_

_What do you know?_

_I've managed to graduate from high school without falling victim to the things normal teenagers usually fall for. On one hand, I've had an inordinate amount of self-control and an IQ of that of a 21-year-old when I was only ten, yet on the other hand, I just DO NOT enjoy any of the regular stuff that normal teenagers are "supposed" to enjoy…_[abbreviated]_…Well, future me, I'll write more tomorrow. Goodnight._

I read the whole thing and found a watch that I hadn't seen in a long time. I pressed the date button. 6-23. June 23. And then it all came flooding back to me.

This was the day that everything changed. This was two days after I graduated from high school, the day I went on my space adventure…the day I met Chikorita, Grovyle, Samus, Adam…and my future self. The day in which the night before, Zoroark pulled me into their dimension. But how could I tell?

I slipped on my blue t-shirt and dark-blue shorts, just like last time. I tied my hair up in two ponytails, and ran downstairs to check the thermometer. 70 degrees again. I ran outside. This definitely wasn't heaven, or a dream. This was real. I ran and ran, knowing the way to the field where I first met them, wondering what had happened. Why was the love theme from Titanic playing over and over again in my mind? Within five minutes, my best time ever, I was there, gasping and panting, out of breath from the humidity.

But no one came. Not a single purple spaceship in sight.

Suddenly, I remembered that day, so long ago, when we came back to the past one more time…when Arceus showed us all how my home dimension would be kept in balance. And I realized the truth. Because I was the Master of the Universe, I was able to be reborn as Amy Vee Purima. And now, after I had died as Amy Vee Purima, I was reborn again in order to continue the life I was living before everything changed. We peeked into my home dimension and saw it happen. Now it came true. I was home.

It felt so weird that this very place I was standing on—my very hometown—could possibly become the futuristic awesome Gaijin City 500 years in the future…at least, in my universe. Here, in the real world? Who knew? The future was what it always would be: a mystery.

Time travel isn't possible in real life. Nor can any of those people I've met exist for real. They were all fictitious characters only living in video games…and my imagination. But for the past 25 years, I got to live in that dimension where they were all real…where I got to know them for who they were.

Yeah. Just 25 years. Because none of us ever chose to evolve, we had a much shorter lifespan than most Pokémon. Now I knew why lots of Pokémon wanted to evolve so badly; so they could live out their usual 100 years that they would only obtain **if and only if they evolved to their highest form**. Any lower, even a 2nd-level form like Grovyle's and mine, and we'd only live for 25 years at most. But we didn't care. We preferred to live out a life like a candle burning at both ends; we didn't last very long, but oh, how we shined.

Smiling, I calmed down and slowed down to a walk. I thought about how thematic it must've been that while I spent the past 6 years of my former life at my secondary school, this old elementary school of mine was close enough to walk to—and around. It was like a part of my childhood didn't want to let go. As I walked the loop around the school and subsequently back to my house, I thought back over the past 25 years of my life with my friends, and found, to my confusion, those memories to be not quite as clear as the memories of my former life, like, say, graduation.

_On Capital Planet Earth, in another major city, we met with teenage Robot XJ-9, aka Jenny, and I tried, unsuccessfully, to explain to her how the teenage years are overrated. We had to join her on a quest to save the city before she finally started to realize the truth._

_Another time, I got to help Blue Kirby defeat N.M.E. before he and his nasty monster army had a chance to resurface. We got help from all 32 alien species from __Meteos__, and together, and we led them all on our Air Ride Machines and while wearing Oxygen Orbs. Even the Geolytes in their flagship, the Metamo Ark, followed us too. It was an epic battle._

_One year, we came across the Planet Aether and met with the native Luminites, including the leader of them all, U-Mos. We explained to him our stories, and he in turn explained to us that their world underwent a similar history to that of Planet Portania. Aether used to have a dark future too, but they successfully averted it just how we did. And when that interdimensional meteor crashed, it opened a portal to that parallel universe, and the original Dark Aether almost took over. Luckily, Samus averted the tragedy several years before. His point was, it was a good thing that no interdimensional meteors struck Planet Portania, as we'd have to deal with our dark future again if it ever happened. It was an interesting cautionary tale._

_Zoroark and Darkrai worked together to rebuild the dark, anarchic planets and unite those aliens living there, including the Space Pirate Homeworld for Zark and Zork. In return, Darkrai became the brother Zoroark had always wished for. The two of them became good friends just like how Chikorita found me when I lost my memories after being turned into a Jigglypuff. Darkrai and Zoroark. All this time, I thought they would never be anything more than bad guys, but now...I was so happy to see them working for a good cause...that they finally had a happy ending too._

_Heck, I disovered to my delight that the one and only space station known as Star Command was also in orbit around Capital Planet Earth, just as I've always suspected. Buzz Lightyear, Mira Nova, and other such famous space rangers trained there to protect the galaxy like Samus. Between those rangers and the Penalty Box satellite, Capital Planet Earth's safety was in good hands. As for us? Funny story. We passed every test they had, so we didn't even need to join them at all!_

_We met with Samus several times, and saw her and Sporis restore the Chozo to their former glory across the galaxy. Our Team Pecha Berry Juice Shop became one of the most popular stops for drinks in the galaxy, if it wasn't famous enough on Planet Portania. We went to Gaijin City several times and thoroughly enjoyed everything it had to offer. We played Tarzan on Planet Portania, discussed scientific topics intelligently with Dusknoir (and found out that he gained that much knowledge thanks to Primal Dialga's secret library all the way back then!), had fun in Quartzite Cave, surfed the oceans, and learned about all 1,000 types of Pokémon on the planet. And, and, and…the list went on for far longer than I could remember. We had so much fun._

_But most importantly of all, I got to live out my life as a Jigglypuff with my best friends, Chikorita and Grovyle. I could turn into a human whenever necessary, but most of the time, I stayed as a Jigglypuff. We laughed, we fought common enemies, we traveled and explored the galaxy several times, and we stuck together no matter what. I had the demeanor calm enough to have serious discussions with Grovyle, yet I also regained the enthusiasm to play around with Chikorita. It was perfect. I loved them both with all of my heart. And to top things off, we actually got to die together, in our Pecha Berry home, content with how we've made the universe a better place._

Yeah, I thought we were going to die of old age together in the year 2535, but it seems that I got to resume my old life in 2010 instead. That reminded me that I still had Galactic Rainbow to develop and publish, college to attend…the future was wide open for me to run to. I got my wish: an extended childhood where I could learn how to be truly independent. I've made my universe a better place. Now it's time to do the same for the real world. I would meet my friends in that amazing land known as heaven when the time came.

But none of these memories were as powerful as the ones I had of our first adventure together, when Amy Vee Purima and I were still separate. Maybe now that I was Amy [you know who] again instead of Amy Purima, I remembered all of my memories much more vividly than hers. I just had to write it all down so other people in the real world could learn all of those valuable lessons I've learned.

For example, love doesn't hurt. It's okay to love someone with all of your heart, even if they will eventually leave you. Based on my experiences, I'd rather have loved and lost than to never have loved at all.

Speaking of which, love and romance are not necessarily equal. You can love anyone in the galaxy with all of your heart, even if they're of the same gender as yours or even a totally different species. Friendship and love go hand in hand. Not necessarily so with romance.

Appreciate how unique you truly are. No one and nothing can ever replace you, no matter what they say. Furthermore, appreciate the differences in the people around you, whether physical, emotional, or whatever. I guess I was luckier than most to have met and befriended an extremely diverse cast of alien characters across the galaxy. The Chozo were right. Respect all life, no matter what form it takes. Every time I met a new alien species, it made me grateful that I stopped Queen X's dastardly plan to subjugate the galaxy. All life is worth protecting no matter what.

And finally, I now knew why I loved Chikorita and Grovyle so much more than anyone else in real life (even my own family!): We've endured physically and emotionally heart wrenching situations together, while such situations almost never pop up in real life. Without the lows we plummeted to during our adventure, we never would've been able to reach the highs. And it's those low events (like Grovyle almost killing me) that allowed the highs to be so much sweeter (like when they all loved me back in the end).

I ran up the driveway to my house, and stopped in front of the door, thinking. Before, I wasn't sure whether I was emotionally ready for college. Now I think that, after a 25-year extension, I was definitely ready to charge in. I was ready to face the rest of the summer. I was ready to see my family again. I opened the door to see my dad, my mom, and my 16-year-old brother sitting in various rooms around the house getting ready for work and the last days of school, respectively. My heart leapt with joy at being able to see them again, and I only had one thing to say, this time, with all of my heart.

"I'm home."

And they said the words that I'd never thought I'd ever hear again.

"Welcome home…Amy."

—The End of Act 3—

**And so ends the story of the one and only true Amy, the girl who touched the lives of all the beings in the galaxy and taught them what it truly means to love and be loved in return. For all of you readers out there who've followed along with her adventure until the very end…thank you, all of you. While it's unfortunate that none of the events in this story actually happened, she hopes that you learned something too. Write a review if you want to, or not, but you, too, should live your life to the fullest and do your part to make the world a better place.**

**THE END!**


	34. Bonus Section: Story Calendar

Bonus Section: Story Calendar of The Other Amy

_Note: For any new readers who feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of chapters in this epic, I've created a handy time chart right here so you can keep the events straight. (This was actually really helpful for me too, especially when it came time to writing Act 2: Chozo Wisdom.) If you wanted to read the ending instead, go back one chapter, okay?_

**Events prior to the series. I understand that the days of the week for 2010 and 2510 may not match up perfectly...but in this case, they do.**

August 23, 2499: Auto kicks the scientists off the Axiatomic Link, either onto the dark Planet Portania, or a deserted asteroid.

May 24, 2509: Zoroark gets kicked off Planet Portania.

May 20, 2510: The ending of Metroid Fusion. Samus and Adam crash the Biologic Space Labs research station into Planet SR-388 to avert the first chance for the X Parasites to take over the galaxy.

May 25, 2510: Zoroark ends up on Planet SR-388 and meets Queen X for the first time. When Kel-Zich-X comes from the future to warn them about their defeat in the future, they immediately make plans to take over the galaxy...and ensure that no one who can control the universe can mess them and Queen X infiltrate Galactic Federation Headquarters, knock out Commander Tierney, and change Samus' employment status from fired to still hired. Then they go and take over the Space Pirate Homeworld.

May 26—June 21, 2510: Preparations for the evil plans!

June 22, 2510: Samus completes the mission to blow up the Space Pirates' hastily-constructed new hideout on Planet Ceres. But on the way back, she and Adam fall into the Pirates' trap; a wormhole leading straight to Planet Portania 500 years into the past!

* * *

**Events during the series.**

June 22, 2010: That night, I write my journal entry. Amy and Chikorita investigate the alien that crash-landed near Quartzite Cave...which ends up taking them aboard Samus' ship.

June 23, 2010 to June 23, 2510: I encounter Samus and Team Pecha, go to the future, meet Grovyle, and spend the rest of the day in Gaijin City.

June 24, 2510: We compete in the Pokéathlon Contest, go aboard the Axiatomic Link, get stuck in Amy's past, and escape to Planet Portania.

June 25, 2510: Samus retrieves the Metroid serum for us. That evening and night, I run away into the forest.

June 26, 2510: The Chozo give us a tour of Yamamori Village throughout the entire day.

June 27—July 3, 2510: Week 1 of training

June 30, 2510: The four new visitors arrive.

July 1, 2510: Amy's first day of training with Blue Kirby.

July 2, 2510: Our bodies get switched…and switched back.

July 3, 2510: I overhear when Samus' birthday is.

July 4, 2510: Gandrayda and Celebi sing the Unbirthday Song.

July 4—July 10, 2510: Week 2 of training

July 11: Samus' birthday! Also happens to be Transfusion Day.

July 11—July 17, 2510: Week 3 of training

July 12: The first Ylla training day.

July 13: Gandrayda and Celebi drag me to h-e-double hockey stick—I mean, heck.

July 16, 2510: The Starfall Festival

July 17: We assert our freedom once and for all! Take that, Celebi and Gandrayda!

July 18—July 24, 2510: Week 4 of training

July 25, 2510: The Final Test. That night, Master Kel-Zich figures everything out, and Queen X finds that we're still alive.

July 26, 2510: We leave first thing in the morning to fight Queen X. We fail, she goes to Planet Portania, we escape from the three Z's, she kills lots of Pokémon on that planet and tells us that her real plan was for Capital Planet. We go there and find that we're wanted criminals and try to escape, but they catch us and throw us in jail.

July 27—July 28, 2510: Prison.

July 28, 2510: Our trial. We get sent to a maximum security asteroid for execution that night. We break out.

July 29, 2510: The Final Battle, all day. I die, and my soul is sent back to the day Amy Vee Purima was born, April 25, 2498. The Galactic Federation holds trials and frees Samus.

July 29, 2510 to July 29, 2010: We go back to the past and see my former self being brought back in my home dimension.

July 29—31, 2010: We tour around the Planet Portania of the past. That evening of the last day, we say goodbye to everyone in the past against the sunset of the Hill of the Ancients.

July 31, 2510: We perform a finale musical number and begin our new life in the future Planet Portania…

August 1, 2510—August 23, 2535: …and spend the rest of our lives on it and traveling to other planets, having fun adventures, managing our official Team Pecha Berry Juice Shop, and being glad to be with each other.

June 23, 2010: I come home, ready to get on with the next great phase in my life.

* * *

_And now for a listing of planets and places we've traveled to._

**The Past**

Planet Portania (Treasure Town, Quartzite Cave), Planet Earth (my home)

**The Future**

Planet Portania (Treasure Town, Apple Jungle, Forgotten Swamp, Forgotten Plain, Temporal Tower, Sky Temple), Capital Planet Earth (Gaijin City), Planet K-2L (Axiatomic Link), Space Pirate Homeworld (secret lab), Planet SR-388 (impact site of Biologic Space Labs research station), Planet Ceres (Ceres Space Colony remains), Planet Chozodia (Yamamori Village, Mt. Chorshire, Torgus Forest)

**Amy's Memories**

Planet Portania, dark future (Barren Valley, the stockade Deep Dusk Forest, Crystal Cave, Quartzite Cave, other Time Gear locations...)

_That's about it! I hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. I was so glad I was finally able to conclude the saga of the awesome bounty hunter Samus Aran AND the story of Team Pecha! It was valuable practice for storywriting and that sort of thing, so I think I'll focus on original stories from now on. Of course, if I get any other story ideas for fanfiction, I'll continue to post them up. But for now, as Samus Aran would say..._

**See You Next Mission!  
****  
****This is AmyDonovan525, over and out!**


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